Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

Advantages: A true classic
Disadvantages: Probably not really for children

...familiar with the story of Alice in Wonderland but for those who are not I have included a summary at the end of the opinion. I was brought up on Alice stories, not however just read from the book. Like the real Alice I grew up in Oxford and like her was lucky enough to have a storytelling uncle. I was told Alice stories in Christ Church Meadow and Godstow sitting near the same places where she sat and maybe just maybe I heard them as she had done ...
...same thing that happened to Alice at the end of the story. As soon as Alice points out the reality of the situation – that they are “only a pack of cards”, she is immediately returned to ‘reality’ herself. I had grown up a bit, I was old enough to read the words but too old to recapture the magic of the stories that I had originally heard. On the other hand distance in time and general lack of education and understanding ... Read review

Advantages: Wonderful, enchanting read for all ages.
Disadvantages: Very weird, and a bit dated.

Alice in Wonderland was written by Lewis Carrol, the pseudonym of a maths professor called Charles Lutwidge Dodson. There is a famous story of Queen Victoria, having read Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, ordering her courtiers to bring her everything that Lewis Carroll had written, only to receive a pile of mathematical papers! Suffice it to say that there are a lot of mathematical puzzles hidden in his work, so that beneath the ...
...its references to chess). Alice in Wonderland is that rarity - a children's book that can be read on many levels. It has brilliantly crafted nonsense poetry, of which "the mouse's tale" - a beautiful shape poem in the shape of a mouse's tail, "Jabberwocky" - brilliant verbal fireworks - revelling in the enjoyment of playing with the English language for the sake of it, and the Walrus and the Carpenter (from 'Through the Looking Glass') are probably ... Read review

Advantages: Brilliant characters
Disadvantages: None that I can think of

...most fantasy adventures, to adults Alice in Wonderland seems like the product of a dieased or at the very least, drug addled mind. To children it is all perfectly acceptable however. It is a timeless adventure tale and the larger than life characters are great, such as the Cheshire Cat and the mad Hatter. There are all kinds of theories running round about how Carroll was trying to invent a new system of mathematics and other crazy ideas, but don't ... Read review

Advantages: make you think
Disadvantages: make you think

...she compared the character of Alice to that of a friend who was involved with drugs. Caroline’s friend, like Alice, was lost in another world. For this exhibition, Caroline decided to re-use her artwork from four years ago, inventing and adding new elements to it. Is "Alice in Wonderland" about the death of a child? Does she try to find her identity, trapped in solitude? The "garden" is more morbid than enchanted, isn't it? All these questions ...
...places, deserted by people whom she has rejected. The picture shown is a "souvenir" of this walk where the few moments of reality are fragmented; her life is a collage with rough edges emphasised by the flat colours and the lack of contrast. Caroline took a picture of a face, she photographed destroyed buildings then these pictures were printed on fabric and finally I scanned the textile prints. During this process, each technique used left a ... Read review

Advantages: Insane
Disadvantages: Insane

...Looking Glass. Most people and modern kids got Alice via the sanitised Disney animated film, which weaves the two books together, but really you should check out the original and try and get your head round it. It is well written and has some totally weird twists and turns. ... Read review