I am hoping that Tim Burton's movie version of Alice in Wonderland will inspire children to read the book and discover how much better it is than the movie. If so, I won't be so angry and disappointed at his turning the story into a simplistic war-mongering tale.
This is one of my all time favorite books and I found it very sad, as a librarian, that so few children know the original book. Instead, most know the Disney version, which is really very lovely and remarkably true to the original, but still an abridged version. The original is so much more complex. (I should say originals, as Through the Looking Glass is really a separate tale.)
Alice is a prime example of literary nonsense that is full of allusions, puns, and not so subtle themes. Lewis Carroll (Dodson) was a brilliant storyteller and pulled together bits and pieces of the real Alice's world to create a magical story. (As a teen, I loved an annotated version that explained political and philosophical references in the text. Yes, I was a literary nerd.)
But I think Alice has really lasted this long and become so popular because the characters are so wonderfully imagined. Read it again and notice the details, the individual voice of each character. (Disney noticed.) There is a reality to Wonderland's madness, a consistency of lunacy, that pulls the reader in, along with Alice, down the rabbit hole. There the language and detail are as potent as any bottle labeled "drink me".
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was a hit in Victorian England and has never been out of print. There have been numerous versions with different illustrations, but the original ones by Tenniel are those that I fell in love with and I've found it hard to accept others. That's what happens with a first love.
Teacher Notes: This is actually a great read-a-loud for 3/4th grade. Compare and contrast to the movie. I would love to teach this at the middle school level and make connections to Victorian England and Philosophy.
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