"Curiouser and curiouser!" thought Alice. There she was, minding her own business, sitting sleepily on the riverbank with her sister, when suddenly a white rabbit ran past--and not just any rabbit, but a rabbit murmuring "Dear, dear! I shall be too late!" before pulling a watch out of his waistcoat pocket to check the time. Alice couldn't believe her eyes and ears. She chased after the rabbit, fell down the hole he disappeared into--and at the bottom of the rabbit hole found herself in a very strange land indeed.One adventure follows another in this delightful tale as Alice changes size unexpectedly, attends a tea party given by the March Hare, visits a garden of talking flowers, and acts as witness at the trial of a thief who has stolen some tarts. Along the way, Alice meets such unforgettable characters as the Mad Hatter, the grinning Cheshire Cat, the tearful Mock Turtle, the hookah-smoking Caterpillar, the autocratic Red Queen, and other fanciful folk.
This book began as a story told to three little girls boating on the River Cherwell, in England. The storyteller,Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, was a a teacher of mathematics and logic at Christ Church College, Oxford University.Beneath his shy, scholarly manner was a wild and wonderful imagination, and his three young friends---daughters of the college dean, the Very Reverend Henry George Liddell--were always entranced by his stories. On this summer afternoon he told them the fantastic tale of a girl who falls down a deep, deep hole while following a white rabbit. Her adventures made for a long, exciting story, and Mr. Dodgson decided to write it down for his favorite Liddell sister, Alice. So he set to work, illustrating it with his own drawings. He meant the manuscript to be a Christmas present, but when all was said and done, he didn"t finish the work he called Alice"s Adventures Under Ground until February, 1863. Alice loved the gift, and so did family and friends. One friend, George Macdonald, who himself would soon write The Princess and Goblin, urged Dodgson to have the work published.
1. Down the Rabbit-Hole
2. The Pool of Tears
3. A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale
4. The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill
5. Advice from a Caterpillar
6. Pig and Pepper
7. A Mad Tea-Party
8. The Queen"s Croquet-Ground
9. The Mock Turtle"s Story
10. The Lobster-Quadrille
11. Who Stole the Tarts?
12. Alice"s Evidence