From: Angelica Carpenter <angelica>
Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2000 09:49:18 -0800

Considering the question of who is reading Alice, I have seen it listed on many high school required reading lists. I used this information as I tried to sell a biography of Lewis Carroll for young people to a variety of publishers. Because of the controversy about Lewis Carroll's photos of naked little girls, I got rejected for years, but finally Lerner, who published my other three bios, changed their minds and said yes. The book will come out in 2003 and I guess you will all need a copy!

Just wanted to add a personal story: my grandmother loved the Alice books and knew them by heart, remembering them even when she was quite dotty otherwise. One day I visited her in the nursing home. "Some people were here today with the cutest little puppy," she said. "Let me show you." And she pulled out Alice and turned to the right page. She showed me the book on many occasions in that home, but that's the only incident I remember specifically. Quite obviously that book was a companion and a comfort to her for 90 years!

Angelica Carpenter, Curator, Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children's Literature
Received on Tue 31 Oct 2000 11:49:18 AM CST