By Lewis Carroll

And now on to the beloved book that was one of C.S. Lewis and J.R. Tolkien’s favorite reads.

“Alice’s second adventure takes her through the looking-glass to a place even curiouser than Wonderland. She finds herself caught up in a chess game and sets off to become a queen. On the way Alice meets a host of nonsense characters, including Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and Humpty Dumpty.”

This is one of the great sequels that is just as good as the original. The book has an interesting level of logic as well as plenty of nursery rhyme references. Also, if you have watched any adaptations called Alice in Wonderland, you have probably seen something from this book.

For this story, I have three thoughts.

Firstly, ok this is a slight issue that I have with this story. I know Alice’s previous trip to Wonderland was a dream. But why doesn’t Alice reference what happened before? Even a line about how this felt a little familiar. Or, seeing as this is all in her imagination, there could have been a character from Wonderland show up in the looking-glass land.

Secondly. I would like to talk about the chess motif and the fact that there is more of a structure to this book. I enjoy that because in Alice in Wonderland, Alice’s only interest was a desire to see a beautiful garden which she promptly forgot the moment she left the room and while there was a royalty based around a deck of cards, this was something that only came into play in the final quarter. In the looking-glass, the chess theme runs through the book, with the chance to become a queen. This is interesting not only because we see a desire from Alice continue on throughout the book, but also because from the third chapter with the Red Queen, we have the framework of the plot laid out for the reader. The Red Queen tells Alice how to get across the board including what Alice will encounter on different squares which we see laid out in the book.

Thirdly, in the book, there are three nursery rhymes that Alice interacts with. These are Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Humpy Dumpty and the Lion and the Unicorn. There is an interesting trend with this. By this I mean most people will recognize Humpty Dumpty. A good number of Brits will recognise the rhyme of the Lion and the Unicorn. But I can bet that people will think that Tweedledum and Tweedledee were a Lewis Carroll creation. This is partially because unlike the other nursery rhymes that come to life which have been shown in other adaptations, Tweedledum and Tweedledee are only seen in Alice adaptations. I will point out where with my other reviews.

Thank you for joining me for this review and until next week with our trip to Disney Animation.

Happy reading to all, and to all a good night.