Classic Children Stories

Alice is back in her room, stroking her cats - but not for long. Slipping through the Looking-Glass she meets another wild collection of fantasy characters including the Red and White Kings and Queens, Tweedledum and Tweedledee and is entertained by the poems Jabberwocky and The Walrus and the Carpenter.

Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There the sequel to Alice in Wonderland - is in some ways more ambitious and more consciously organized than its predecessor. Unlike most sequels, it is at least as good as the original work. As the title suggests, the fantasy world involves reversal or inversion through reflection, and also includes a more-or-less possible game of chess in which the characters themselves are players. Alice does not dream her way into the story, but instead gains access through the power of her imagination, melting, through the looking glass into that world which is always at least partly visible in it. Carroll also introduces into his second story a character more sympathetic than any in 'Wonderland', and perhaps based on himself -the charming and absurd White Knight, whose inventions include anklets for horses 'to guard against the bites of sharks'.