Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There

by Lewis Carroll

Alice walks through a mirror and meets Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the White Knight, Humpty Dumpty, and the others in a vast game of chess.  She goes across the field and becomes a queen at the end.  This volume is just as funny, madcap and memorable as Alice in Wonderland.  I liked the reappearance of the Mad Hatter and the March Hare, now under the names Hatta and Haigha.  It seems clear to me that the White Knight (who is probably the funniest character) is supposed to be Carroll himself, with his “gentle, kind eyes” and distracted, thoughtful air.  But nearly every section has something incredibly clever, or absurdly inventive.  And John Tenniel’s illustrations are unsurpassable. 

[read twice]

five stars