Why a Booktrail?
1832 – 1898: The sequel to Alice in Wonderland
Through the Looking-Glass
What you need to know before your trail
Set some six months later than the earlier book, Alice again enters a fantastical world, this time by climbing through a mirror into the world that she can see beyond it. Through the Looking-Glass includes such celebrated verses as “Jabberwocky” and “The Walrus and the Carpenter”, and the episode involving Tweedledum and Tweedledee. The mirror which inspired Carroll remains displayed in Charlton Kings. Chapter One – Looking-Glass House: Alice is playing with a white kitten (who she calls “Snowdrop”) and a black kitten (who she calls “Kitty”)—the offspring of Dinah, Alice’s cat in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland—when she ponders what the world is like on the other side of a mirror’s reflection
Travel Guide
Lewis Carroll Country
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson is better known as Lewis Carroll
Dodgson was born in the small parsonage at Daresbury in Cheshire. He was the eldest boy but already the third child of the four-and-a-half-year-old marriage. Eight more children followed. When Charles was 11, his whole family moved to the rectory. This remained their home for the next 25 years.
“Lewis Carroll” was educated at home. By the age of seven, he was apparently reading books such as The Pilgrim’s Progress. Like many of his siblings, he suffered from a stammer and this would have an effect on the rest of his life.
Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass
The story of Alice in Wonderland actually starts in a very real place above ground – the story came about following a journey the author had when walking along a river between Oxford and Godstow whilst trying to entertain the two little girls in his care.
Dodgson told the girls a story that featured a bored little girl named Alice who goes looking for an adventure. The girls loved it, and the real Alice asked Dodgson to write it down for her. He began writing but it wasn’t until they all went on another journey and boat trip a month later, when he started to elaborate the story and write it out in full.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: Through the Looking-Glass
Destination: Oxford, Daresbury Author/Guide: Lewis Carroll Departure Time: 1832 – 1898
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