From School Library Journal
Grade 3-5-An abridgement of the classic story that makes it more accessible to young readers, while giving them a good taste of the original. Ross treats his material reverently, abridging Carroll's chattiness, but seldom changing his words. The full-color cartoons are unmistakably Ross's, but they stick closely to the composition and content of Tenniel's original black-and-white drawings, with some additional pictures (the nonsense of the last banquet, for instance, proves irresistible). This version has a modern air with the slightly oversized pages and sly, humorous artwork that fits the illogical craziness of the story surprisingly well. This con-artist Walrus is unforgettable, and the empty oyster shells with feet sticking straight up in the air are most memorable. Although one may occasionally miss the flowing, stream-of-consciousness style of Carroll or Tenniel's quintessential Tweedledee and Tweedledum, certainly Ross has done an admirable job of preserving the spirit of the masterpiece for the younger set.Judy Constantinides, East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LACopyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Pruned to something less than half the original (using only Carroll's language), with chess moves, verse, chaptering, and main events intact: an abridgement that may find some use as an introduction, though any child who enjoys it should be steered to a complete edition. It's not true--despite Ross's otherwise sensible introduction--that all the humor is here (where are the ``six impossible things before breakfast''?); but his forthrightly honest approach (even the title page reads ``Abridged & Illustrated by...'' in caps) merits some indulgence, while even purists will enjoy comparing his witty, freely rendered caricatures with Tenniel's elegantly limned art--which Ross's frequently parodies. (Fiction. 6+) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Book Description
Carroll's classic stories reunited with Peake's celebrated illustrations, restored for the first time to their original glory.
In the 1940s, Gormenghast trilogy author Mervyn Peake was commissioned to produce a series of seventy pen-and-ink drawings to accompany Lewis Carroll's two classics, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Previously admired for his illustrations of Treasure Island and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Peake set to work, producing such luminous, eccentric images that Graham Greene would later refer to him as 'the first artist since Tenniel to recast Alice in a contemporary mould.'
In these editions, Peake's marvelous illustrations, many of them originally drawn on poor quality wartime paper, have been meticulously reproduced as they were meant to be seen. Thanks to a combination of old-fashioned craft and cutting-edge computer technology, the delightful images shine for the first time in over two decades alongside Carroll's fantastically eccentric text. With introductions by modern literary masters Will Self and Zadie Smith, these beautifully designed and printed books are the perfect gift for adults and children alike.
Card catalog description
After climbing through the mirror in her room, Alice enters a world similar to a chess board where she experiences many curious adventures with its fantastic inhabitants.
About the Author
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-98), a.k.a. Lewis Carroll, was a lecturer in Mathematics at Oxford University when he wrote Alice in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871).
Mervyn Peake (1911-68) was an artist and writer. His illustration credits include Treasure Island, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and the Brothers Grimm's Household Tales. As a novelist, he is best known for his Gormenghast trilogy.
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There ANNOTATION
In this sequel to "Alice in Wonderland," Alice goes through the mirror to find a strange world where curious adventures await her.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
In a fantastic land where everything is reversed, Carroll's inquisitive heroine finds herself a pawn in a bizarre chess game involving Humpty Dumpty, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and other amusing nursery-rhyme characters. 50 illus.
The 1872 sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland finds Carroll's inquisitive heroine in a fantastic land where everything is reversed. Alice encounters talking flowers, madcap kings and queens, and strange mythological characters when she becomes a pawn in a bizarre chess game involving Humpty Dumpty, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and other amusing nursery-rhyme characters. One of juvenile literature's great classics, with 50 original illustrations by Sir John Tenniel.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Classics Illustrated comics returns with this dismal adaptation of Carroll's second Alice tale. Most of the charming paradoxes and silly puns are salvaged in gs the text, arranged in columns beneath the artwork rather than in word balloons. Consequently, a lot of very small illustrations are needed to carry the dialogue between Alice and the many looking-glass characters--to the detriment of the visual appeal of the work. g Baker ( Why I Hate Saturn ) is a good caricaturist, but the drawings often appear perfunctory and the color choicesg flat, garish and awkward. At its best (the Humpty Dumpty scenes), the g sketchy linework seems more appropriate to a realistic narrative, a thriller or a political satire, and the g book lacks throughout the careful design and rendering that a children's classic requires. (Feb.)
Art & Photography
Book Info
