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[CCBC-Net] Letters to Carroll or Alice
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From: Monica R. Edinger <edinger>
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2000 10:23:56 +0100
ccbc-net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu writes:
But, by all means, Monica could share the import of the children's letters. Did they tend to write the author or the character more?
Actually the letters were to Lewis Carroll or Alice Liddell. I sometimes ask them to write characters (say different Cinderellas), but in this case I wanted them to write to the real people behind the story. They had a great time with this. Some wrote in purple ink (which Carroll used exclusively for a period of time). Some created shaped-letters as Carroll had done. The text of Nicolai's follows. I only wish you could see his original as it was done in a very florid script on the page in a very unusual way. He was clearly imitating both Carroll's Victorian style in writing (especially the initials in lieu of names) and the look of the letter itself. After Nicolai's letter is Alex's which is the one Matt mentioned as one I posted on the egroup Carroll discussion last spring.
Dear Alice Liddell,
Hello. My name is Nicolai. I loved that book your dear friend, Lewis Carroll, made. It was absolutely wonderful.
It was also funny. How did you feel when L.C. wrote about you? What of your friends? if they thought it was dry...DITTO!
I think A.I.W. was great because of the H. [hatter], the C. [Cheshire Cat], and Alice.
Sincerely, N.S.
Dear Mr. Carroll,
Hello. My name is Alex. I am 9 years old. I like adventure and war
books. I read a lot and had never read Alice in Wonderland until my
class read it and I will never read it again in my whole life.
No offense, but I hated that book. You must be a very nice man
because I've heard some of your letters. But you need a bit of spice
in your book. It is just too plain for me. You need to have more
adventure in your stories. Say instead of this:" "She took the Orange
Marmalade. It was empty. She put it down." It should be like this:
"She's flying down the hole at breaknecking speed and she goes
through the floor of the hole and hits a wild kind of spring and goes
flying into the sky." That is what I think is descriptive.
But you have some good artists. I've got to give you credit for that.
My favorites are Anthony Browne, Angel Dominiquez, and Helen Oxenbury.
Everyone in my class except me likes your book. We are all going to
do illustrations for your book. I really look forward to doing this
because I like drawing.
Good bye and don't forget, I don't like your book.
Sorrily,
Alex
Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Wed 25 Oct 2000 04:23:56 AM CDT
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2000 10:23:56 +0100
ccbc-net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu writes:
But, by all means, Monica could share the import of the children's letters. Did they tend to write the author or the character more?
Actually the letters were to Lewis Carroll or Alice Liddell. I sometimes ask them to write characters (say different Cinderellas), but in this case I wanted them to write to the real people behind the story. They had a great time with this. Some wrote in purple ink (which Carroll used exclusively for a period of time). Some created shaped-letters as Carroll had done. The text of Nicolai's follows. I only wish you could see his original as it was done in a very florid script on the page in a very unusual way. He was clearly imitating both Carroll's Victorian style in writing (especially the initials in lieu of names) and the look of the letter itself. After Nicolai's letter is Alex's which is the one Matt mentioned as one I posted on the egroup Carroll discussion last spring.
Dear Alice Liddell,
Hello. My name is Nicolai. I loved that book your dear friend, Lewis Carroll, made. It was absolutely wonderful.
It was also funny. How did you feel when L.C. wrote about you? What of your friends? if they thought it was dry...DITTO!
I think A.I.W. was great because of the H. [hatter], the C. [Cheshire Cat], and Alice.
Sincerely, N.S.
Dear Mr. Carroll,
Hello. My name is Alex. I am 9 years old. I like adventure and war
books. I read a lot and had never read Alice in Wonderland until my
class read it and I will never read it again in my whole life.
No offense, but I hated that book. You must be a very nice man
because I've heard some of your letters. But you need a bit of spice
in your book. It is just too plain for me. You need to have more
adventure in your stories. Say instead of this:" "She took the Orange
Marmalade. It was empty. She put it down." It should be like this:
"She's flying down the hole at breaknecking speed and she goes
through the floor of the hole and hits a wild kind of spring and goes
flying into the sky." That is what I think is descriptive.
But you have some good artists. I've got to give you credit for that.
My favorites are Anthony Browne, Angel Dominiquez, and Helen Oxenbury.
Everyone in my class except me likes your book. We are all going to
do illustrations for your book. I really look forward to doing this
because I like drawing.
Good bye and don't forget, I don't like your book.
Sorrily,
Alex
Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Wed 25 Oct 2000 04:23:56 AM CDT
