Current Event: A Little Girl Named Alice

Nov. 26, 1865, marked the 150^th anniversary of the publication of Lewis Carroll’s book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alice in Wonderland, as it is commonly called, tells about the adventures of a little girl in a make-believe world under the ground. Carroll created the character of Alice to amuse a little girl named Alice Liddell, the daughter of the dean of Christ Church. On July 4, 1862, Carroll went rowing on the River Isis with Alice Liddell and two of her sisters. He began to tell the story of Alice that day. Later, he wrote the story down, and called it “Alice’s Adventures Underground.” Carroll enlarged the story into its present book-length version. In the story, Alice falls asleep in a meadow and dreams she enters a “wonderland” after she falls down a hole while following a nervous and fashionably dressed white rabbit. She soon meets many strange characters, including the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, the Mock Turtle, and the Queen of Hearts. The book’s popularity increased, in part, because of the illustrations created by the English cartoonist and book illustrator Sir John Tenniel.

Illustration from ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ by Lewis Carroll. Credit: Arthur Rackham (1907); Private Collection (© Christie’s Images/Bridgeman Images)

Objective:

Lewis Carroll was the pen name of English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898). Carroll was born in England on Jan. 27, 1832. He graduated from Christ Church, Oxford University, in 1854. The following year, Carroll began teaching mathematics at Christ Church. He wrote two of the most famous books in English literature—Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its continuation, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There (1872). Through the Looking-Glass introduced new characters, including the frightening Jabberwock dragon, the silly twins Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and the Walrus and the Carpenter. Carroll also wrote the poem “The Hunting of the Snark” (1876), which tells the story of amusing characters in search of a Snark, an animal that does not exist. He also wrote many works on mathematics under his real name. Carroll died on Jan. 14, 1898. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore Lewis Carroll and other authors.

Words to know:

• Alice in Wonderland
• Lewis Carroll
• Jabberwocky
• Literature for children
• Oxford University
• Sir John Tenniel

Discussion Topics:

1. Ask your students to name some famous children’s authors. (Students might say Louisa May Alcott, Hans Christian Andersen, Katherine Applegate, L. Frank Baum, Judy Blume, Kate DiCamillo, Mem Fox, Theodore Seuss Geisel [Dr. Seuss], A. A. Milne, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Beatrix Potter, Rick Riordan, J. K. Rowling, Maurice Sendak, Laura Ingalls Wilder.)

2. Ask your students what their favorite book is and why.

3. Ask your students why they think some books like Alice in Wonderland, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hunger Games trilogy, and the Harry Potter series are so popular with kids.

4. Ask your students to use World Book’s Timelines feature to view or add to the Children’s Literature timeline. (Students may wish to use World Book’s Literature for Children article for help.)