I was prompted to pick up Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as a read-aloud because of the Alice’s Garden of Wonders event at the Huntsville Botanical Gardens. Of course we had to read it before we could visit the gardens! (I’d have my homeschooling mama credentials revoked if we didn’t, right? 😉 ) I was very surprised by this book. I had never read it, though maybe once upon a time I saw the Disney cartoon (maybe?), and my girls and I saw a stage version (with a very, very crazy Mad Hatter) a few years ago. This book is pure lunacy, and I loved every minute of what I read. My children didn’t appreciate the humor quite as much as I did, but they liked it well enough. I positively laughed aloud numerous times. I was reminded of The Phantom Tollbooth while reading this classic. I don’t know whether or not Norton Juster cites Alice’s Adventures as inspiration, but it’s certainly reminiscent of it. We ended up listening to the rest of the story via audiobook on our way to the gardens on the Saturday before Mother’s Day, and alas, I’m not a very good audiobook listener (especially while in the van with five other people!) I need to go back and read the last couple of chapters myself, but my girls didn’t want me to read them to them since they are good audiobook listeners. 🙂 The girls did want to listen to Through the Looking Glass, so I took that as a good sign that they enjoyed the lunacy of Lewis Carroll.
Alice’s Garden of Wonders was purely delightful, and I’m really glad we read the book before we visited the garden.
Down the rabbit hole:
The bonsai garden housed a collection of doors decorated by locals in all sorts of Alice-themes.
I loved this one with the original illustrations by Sir John Tenniel.
The caterpillar and his hookah:
Gigantic sand sculpture:
This scene in the book sent us scrambling for the dictionary to learn the meaning of the word lory:
I don’t think the snakeskin is a part of the original story 🙂
This is one story I’m really glad to have read, not only for the enjoyment, but also because now maybe some of the literary allusions won’t fly past me. Highly Recommended.
Enjoyed the book. Thoroughly enjoyed reading about your adventure through the book. Pictures are very creative. May have to make a trip myself if the Alice Garden is going to be there a while
Thanks for sharing!!
I’m trying to remember if I picked up the book or CDs. I know either way I couldn’t get into it. I’m so glad YOU enjoyed it!
I have to admit I’ve always kind of hated Alice. I think it was one too many White Rabbit jokes when I was little. 🙂
This is a book that I’ve tried to read/like, but struggle with, yet I always enjoy it when I hear quotes from it. Maybe a good audioversion is the answer.