From: Sheila Welch <sheilawelch>
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 17:54:06 -0500

Hello!

Thank you all for the interesting comments about ALICE IN WONDERLAND and for inspiring me to finally read the book. As Monica said, both Harry Potter and Alice are names that people have heard of even if they haven't read their stories. I've read three Harry books, but until this discussion came up, I'd neglected to actually read ALICE. My mother, who was born in 1907, always said the book was "silly," and I think that comment turned me against it. I was as familiar with the general episodes in the book as most people, having heard mention of them from many sources. Also, as a child I had a set of View Master reels depicting Alice's adventures that I loved. These were the old View Master reels with 3D photographs of scenes made with ceramic figurines that I found completely captivating. The printed story text that accompanied these scenes was a very brief abridgement.

So, needless to say, I'm no expert on this book! But there are several threads to the discussion that I'd like to pick up. First of all, I am intrigued by the question about whether the book is still enjoyed by children today. Second, the fact that this book has so many editions illustrated by many well known illustrators makes for fascinating comparisons.

One of my granddaughters lives nearby, so we went to the local public library and found five different editions of the book. When we got home, I asked Jazmyn to look them over carefully and decide which one she'd like me to read aloud to her. At eight years of age, she's reading on her own, but I thought the book would be more accessible if I read it to her, and I'd also be more aware of her reactions. I wish I'd taken notes as she pored over the books! But here are some of her reactions--and mine:

Illustrated by :

Arthur Rackham: Jazmyn looked at this one and liked the pictures, but she didn't spend a whole lot of time with it. She commented that the black and white illustrations reminded her of the ones in Winnie-the-Pooh. (She's a huge fan of the original Pooh books with E.H. Shepard's sketches.) I love Rackham's ALICE! His pen and ink drawings are done with such confident, expressive lines. Anyone who's ever attempted to use this medium will realize how accomplished he is-- a master. The color plates, too, fascinate me. Alice, herself, has a serene look on her face in nearly every scene, as if she is a spectator or someone experiencing a dream.

Barry Moser: As my granddaughter examined this book, I saw her physically shudder. She studied the amazing illustration of the bat/cat for some time and said this book would be a good one for Halloween. I don't know if she noticed that there were no pictures of Alice except at the beginning and the end, but I mentioned this to her. She commented that there were SO many pages in the beginning before the story actually started. Again, I found much to admire in this illustrator's work. (I am more familiar with his watercolors.) I was disappointed that I couldn't locate in the book any mention of exactly how wood engravings are done. I assume they are like regular engravings and not like woodcuts. In other words, the ink is put onto the "plate" and rubbed off, with the pigment down in the lines being what prints on the paper. (Woodcuts print the ink on the surface of the block.) I found the various notes throughout the book interesting and helpful. It's certainly a carefully planned and executed edition done in a thought-provoking style. His rational for not showing Alice while she's dreaming made sense. However, I think this approach, along with the general dark quality of the illustrations, turns off young children. It doesn't appear to be a book meant for children, and I doubt that Moser expected or wanted to attract that audience.

Anthony Browne: His illustrations of the baby turning into a pig captured Jazmyn's attention. She also noticed and commented on several other strange elements such as the faces composed of food on the plates at the tea party, the cat teapot, the face made up of trees, birds, etc. She seemed to like these pictures as puzzles but showed little emotional response to them. On my part, being familiar with Browne's work and liking it, I was expecting to appreciate his version a lot. But I found some of the illustrations too flat, almost like collages of photographs. While I enjoy looking at the pictures- What else is hidden here? What visual pun there?-- I don't care for his depiction of Alice herself. I wonder about the length of her hair when she's falling down the rabbit hole. It's much longer than in any other illustration in the book. I doubt this is a mistake, but it doesn't seem to have a purpose either. His version of the Cheshire Cat strikes me as remarkably tame and uninspired. In general, his illustrations didn't live up to my expectations.

Helen Oxenbury: While she didn't spend a lot of time studying these pictures, it was obvious that Jazmyn liked them. She particularly looked at the various scenes of Alice in the hall with the glass table, flipping the pages back and forth to compare Alice's size and position. We agreed that this Alice looked as if she could be a modern?y girl. I didn't expect to like Oxenbury's version, having read about it in several different publications and having seen sample illustrations. But I was struck by how accessible it appeared to children of today without her having turned it into a cartoon version. The illustrations are sunny and amusing. Alice looks fairly young, but from what I understand, Carroll's story is about a girl of seven or eight, and Oxenbury's little girl appears to be that age.

Tenniel, Carroll, and E. Gertrude Thomson: This one is actually called THE NURSERY ALICE and is a1966 edition based on the one published in 1890 that Carroll wrote for younger children. (Since it is in essence an abridged version, I told Jazmyn that I was going to exclude it as one of her choices.) Most of the illustrations are by Tenniel, but there is one in the front of Alice holding the pig?by by Carroll himself and two others by E.Gertrude Thomson. Since I am not emotionally attached (from childhood) to the original Tenniel illustrations, I find I don't really like them much. His Alice looks like a miniature adult, and the general impression of the pictures is of stiffness. However, they definitely have an old fashioned quality that fits the time frame of the story, and I can understand people feeling (as I do about the first Winnie-the-Pooh illustrations) that these are the only "real" pictures for Alice. Personally, I liked Carroll's Alice much better. I'm surprised he ever had anyone else illustrate it when he was alive. What's the story on that? Was Tenniel the publisher's choice?

Jazmyn's choice was predictable--Oxenbury won.

Whew! I never intended to write so much! And I haven't even mentioned Jazmyn's reaction to the story itself. I found out before I began reading that she has seen at least two, possibly three, movie versions of
 ALICE.

We have now read the first three chapters. But I think I'll get off now and save any more comments for after we've finished the entire book.

Thanks for reading my ramblings.

Sheila Kelly Welch Children's author and illustrator sheilawelch at juno.com
Received on Thu 12 Oct 2000 05:54:06 PM CDT