Source of legend and lyric, reference and conjecture, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is for most children pure pleasure in prose. While adults try to decipher Lewis Carroll's putative use of complex mathematical codes in the text, or debate his alleged use of opium, young readers simply dive with Alice through the rabbit hole, pursuing "The dream-child moving through a land / Of wonders wild and new." There they encounter the White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts, the Mock Turtle, and the Mad Hatter, among a multitude of other characters--extinct, fantastical, and commonplace creatures. Alice journeys through this Wonderland, trying to fathom the meaning of her strange experiences. But they turn out to be "curiouser and curiouser," seemingly without moral or sense.

For more than 130 years, children have reveled in the delightfully non-moralistic, non-educational virtues of this classic. In fact, at every turn, Alice's new companions scoff at her traditional education. The Mock Turtle, for example, remarks that he took the "regular course" in school: Reeling, Writhing, and branches of Arithmetic-Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision. Carroll believed John Tenniel's illustrations were as important as his text. Naturally, Carroll's instincts were good; the masterful drawings are inextricably tied to the well-loved story. (All ages) --Emilie Coulter


From Publishers Weekly
If Zwerger's Alice (reviewed above) is deliciously cryptic, Oxenbury's (Tom and Pippo books) brims with the fun and frights of a visit to an amusement park. In perhaps her most ambitious work to date, Oxenbury applies her finely honed instinct for a child's perspective to create an Alice accessible to all ages. With the opening scene of a tomboyish heroine slumped against her sister who is reading under a tree, the artist seems to answer Alice's first line: "What is the use of a book... without pictures or conversations?" Nearly every spread contains either a spot-line drawing or full-bleed full-color painting. The artist nods to Tenniel with her hilarious portrait of the waistcoated White Rabbit and even extends the metaphor of the "grin without a cat" with a quartet of watercolors as the Cheshire Cat begins to disappearAuntil only his grin remains. The villains here are more stoogelike than menacing, including the baby-throwing Duchess and the Queen of Hearts, and Oxenbury makes the most of such comic opportunities as the entangled powdered wigs of the Frog-Footman and Fish-Footman. A series of cleverly choreographed closing scenes shows Alice in the Queen's courtroom, pelted by the playing cards that, on the next spread, seem to have transformed into the falling leaves of the tree where Alice awakens and her sister gives her a kiss; a poignant parting shot of Alice's sister silhouetted at dusk under the tree, with sheep grazing in the field, acknowledges the shift in tone of Carroll's conclusion. An ideal first introduction to a lifelong favorite read. Ages 8-up. (Nov.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
Grade 4 Up-- Edens has compiled and arranged illustrations from 25 editions of Alice in Wonderland published in the early to mid-1900s. The result is a fascinating look at a variety of illustrative styles. This is far less jarring than one might expect because the original illustrator, John Tenniel, has so strongly influenced his successors that their interpretations are often similar in design. In fact, the fascination in these pictures is the differing details--Alice's dress, her hairstyle, and her expressions tell much about the time period and the artist's viewpoint. Edens has also done a fine job of integrating the pictures with the text. He varies interest by utilizing full-page plates, half plates, vignettes, and even reducing some illustrations to fit the design so the book flows fairly well and these myriad illustrations blend into a whole rather than distract the eye. The reproduction is excellent. A must for collections with historical interest in children's literature and large libraries. --Karen K. Radtke, Milwaukee Public LibraryCopyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Parents' Choice®
Rarely is the word "masterpiece" used in reviewing anything, but this unabridged edition of a classic definitely brings the word to mind, in hushed and reverent tones. Oxenbury has boldly offered a fresh look at Alice and her friends. The soft palette, creamy colors interspersed with engaging line drawings, and creative page layout, draw one hypnotically to the story. The double-page spreads pleasantly startle, often with a grand feel of movement. When choosing for a home library, consider this one and the original Tenniel drawings. Buy both - a win/win situation! A 2000 Parents' Choice® Gold Award winner.

Reviewed by Yvonne Coleman, Parents' Choice® 2000


From AudioFile
Reader Michael Page offers a rollicking performance of the 1865 children's classics, which don't seem dated in the least in his skillful hands. Every character is presented with a distinctly different tone, pacing and inflection. His narration is gently expressive; his British accent perfectly in keeping with the setting and characters. Happily, he doesn't slavishly imitate the well-known voices from the Disney cartoon version; his interpretation is distinct and complete in itself. This is a first-class presentation. D.W. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
Gr. 4^-6, younger for reading aloud. There is no end to the available editions of Alice, of course, but here is one worth having. It is in a nice big format, with an exquisite typeface, easy to read and to hold in the lap. It has a genial and erudite introduction by Leonard Marcus, with a bit of biography of Carroll and some Alice publishing history, but, most of all, there are unusual, engrossing illustrations. Morell has taken the original Tenniel images, placed them in collage with realia, and photographed the resultant construction in black-and-white. The artifact of the book is used to great effect: the hole the White Rabbit descends is cut into a large book; the Tenniel caterpillar and Alice peering over the mushroom's edge poke up from the pages of a book in a swirl of smoke; the tea party table is a big old book with a checkerboard cover. This edition illuminates the familiar story in ways that point up its essential, strange "magick." GraceAnne A. DeCandido


Midwest Book Review
This oversized, lavish, unabridged edition of Carroll's classic joins the works of Spanish artist Angel Dominguez with the Carroll fairy tale. Over seventy new watercolor illustrations blend Dominguez's unique style with the Alice story: the full-page color leaps from the page and makes this a very special edition suitable for all ages.

ANNOTATION

Note to Adobe eBook Customers: The Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader version is printable, but there is a known problem printing to printers that do not use the PostScript page description language. This problem occurs with some HP LaserJet, Epson Stylus inkjet, and Epson impact printers. Consult your printer￯﾿ﾽs documentation to find out if it is PostScript compatible. This does not affect your ability to read the book on screen.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

When Alice tumbles down, down, down a rabbit-hole one hot summer's afternoon in pursuit of a White Rabbit she finds herself in Wonderland. And there begin the fantastical adventures that will see her experiencing extraordinary changes in size, swimming in a pool of her own tears and attending the very maddest of tea parties. For Wonderland is no ordinary place and the characters that populate it are quite unlike anybody young Alice has ever met before. In this imaginary land she encounters the savagely violent Queen, the Lachrymose Mock Turtle, the laconic Cheshire Cat and the hookah-smoking Caterpillar, each as surprising and outlandish as the next. Alice's adventures have made her the stuff of legend, the child heroine par excellence, and ensured that Carroll's book is the best loved and most widely read in children's literature.

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, celebrated under his pseudonym Lewis Carroll, was born in 1832, the third in a large and talented family of eleven children. His fascination with word games, puzzles and writing was evident from an early age. He was educated at Rugby School and then Christ Church, Oxford, where he was later appointed lecturer in mathematics and subsequently spent the rest of his life. Alongside his academic life he pursued a career both as a writer and an accomplished amateur photographer. His most famous works are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), its sequel Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There (1871) and The Hunting of the Snark (1876). He died, unmarried, in 1898.

The handsome volumes in The Collectors Library present great works of world literature in a handy hardback format. Printed on high-quality paper and bound in real cloth, each complete and unabridged volume has a specially commissioned afterword, brief biography of the author and a further-reading list. This easily accessible series offers readers the perfect opportunity to discover, or rediscover, some of the world's most endearing literary works.

The volumes in The Collector's Library are sumptuously produced, enduring editions to own, to collect and to treasure.

SYNOPSIS