Purpose of this Blog...

You may have noticed that not all books are equal in capturing children's imaginations and in cultivating those innocent, tender souls. My goal is to help you find the ones that do!
(Painting by Mary Cassatt: "Mrs Cassatt Reading to her Grandchildren" -1888)




Thursday, January 27, 2011

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LEWIS CARROLL - CELEBRATING THE ALICE BOOKS WITH A MAD TEA PARTY!

"Take some more tea," the March Hare said to  Alice, very earnestly.
"I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone, "so I can't take more."
"You mean you can't take LESS," said the Hatter: "it's very easy to take MORE than nothing."
"Nobody asked YOUR opinion," said Alice.
"Who's making personal remarks now?" the Hatter asked triumphantly.


Illustration by M.L. Kirk
"Who are YOU?" said the Caterpillar.This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, "I--I hardly know, sir, just at present-- at least I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then."                                       
"Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin," thought Alice;"but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in my life!"
Disney's Animation.


The White Rabbit shop
The White Rabbit put on his spectacles. "Where shall I begin, please your Majesty?" he asked.
"Begin at the beginning," the King said gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop."


"Let's pretend that you're the Red Queen, Kitty! Do you know, I think if you sat up and folded your arms, you'd look exactly like her. Now do try, there's a dear!" And Alice got the Red Queen off the table, and set it up before the kitten as a model for it to imitate: however, the thing didn't succeed, principally, Alice said, because the kitten wouldn't fold its arms properly. So, to punish it, she held it up to the Looking-glass, that it might see how sulky it was -- "and if you're not good directly," she added, "I'll put you through into Looking-glass House. How would you like that?"


"Alice and Chessie"
The Fairies' Nest

"Your majesty shouldn't purr so loud," Alice said, rubbing her eyes, and addressing the kitten, respectfully, yet with some severity. "You woke me out of oh! such a nice dream! And you've been along with me, Kitty -- all through the Looking-Glass world. Did you know it, dear?"


I hope you enjoyed my Mad Hatter Tea Party!  If you're one of the first 6 people to leave a comment (excluding mine of course) by then end of  today, 1-27-11 - I'll send you a little package of Disney Wonderland Teabags ... just enough for your own tea party.


Click Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to see the broad range of choices for these books from Amazon. (You can arrange them by age.)

17 comments:

  1. Awww...I love Alice! Did you know that at Disneyland's Innoventions, they have Carroll's original manuscript as an e-book that you can read? The e-reader tablet is built into a coffee table. It was all of his original illustrations in it too. Very cool!

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  2. I love all the pictures you used for this post. And Mary does make a perfect Alice!

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  3. Yumi - no I didn't know that! I'll have to check it out!
    Megan - did you notice the little Alice? It's Sophia Blake. And the Mad Hatter is her Daddy. :)

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  4. Aw, what a whimsical post!! Such fun to re-visit the passages, especially after our conversation yesterday, mum!! I just love the tea party scene!!

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  5. Lovely post. Today is my daughter's first birthday-- never has a year flown by so quickly-- and I'd forgotten that she shared a birthday with Lewis Carroll. This was a fun reminder.

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  6. Oh man, I could NOT figure out who the Mad Hatter was! WOW, what an amazing set of costumes for what looks like was an amazing party!

    I think I'll have to pick up a children's copy of Alice in Wonderland. We are working our way through a children's adaptation of the Narnia series right now, and I think Riley would love this story too!

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  7. I was mesmerized by Alice in Wonderland as a child! It felt so real! I had such vivid dreams after my mom or dad would read this to me! Helena just LOVES it and it's such a bonding experience because I get to relive it through her again <3

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  8. Megan - you can read the text online from my post yesterday (both Alice books are public domain) to see if you think Riley will like them. There are some beautifully illustrated versions out there. (I'll add a link to my post).

    Sarah - email me your address. SPAMwendybSPAM1963@sbcglobal.net
    (Leave out the SPAM)

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  9. Erin - I know what you mean!
    Mary - I loved our Lewis Carroll conversation yesterday too! (Even though I was drinking ICED tea!) Love you, "Alice"! ;)

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  10. One more spot left (Megan made 2 comments - so there are a total of 5 people so far who get some tea!)

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  11. I love you and I love your blog and I love that tea and you already owe me some since you keep drinking mine so you don't need to give me any. *whew* I write good.

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  12. I was recently introdouced to Alice in my graduate seminar this past semester. I had never read it before and at long last I am so glad to have been introduced to it. This is such a cute post and I love all the photos. I loved your previous post as well about Lewis Carroll. It was spot on to some of the things we discussed in class. You are such a scholar Wendy! Keep it up! :o)

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  13. Yay! Monika - my dedicated fellow-lover-of-books-and-blog-follower - tea4you! Send me your address (via FB)

    Mary - You and "little Alice" automatically get tea, for sure - so....
    STILL ONE SPOT LEFT. :)

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  14. Yay! We Love Alice and we Love tea parties! Thanks for using our pic from Sophia's birthday :)
    Love, Sarah

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  15. Thank YOU, Sarah, for letting me use the picture. It made my blog party so festive! :)

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  16. Too late for a tea-bag, but a lovely post, Wendy! I am off to Oxford tonight to raise a glass in Christ Church to the memory of LC/CLD! :)

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  17. Thank you, Brian. Sounds like the perfect place to be for his birthday!

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