The Curious Girl With the Black Bow

About this drawing

Alice in her pinafore is the star of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a book that has been making kids laugh since 1865. It all began with a boat ride.

On a summer day in 1862, the English writer Lewis Carroll took three sisters rowing on the River Thames. One of them was ten-year-old Alice Liddell. To pass the time, he made up a tale about a bored girl who follows a white rabbit down a hole. Alice loved it so much that she begged him to write it down.

Inside Wonderland, nothing makes sense, and that is the fun of it. Alice grows and shrinks after eating and drinking strange things. She meets a grinning cat that vanishes, leaving only its smile. She goes to a wild tea party and plays croquet with flamingos! The book is packed with silly riddles and word games.

Before Alice, many children's books were all about teaching lessons. This one just wanted to be fun, and that changed things. A second book, Through the Looking-Glass, came out in 1871. Today, New York's Central Park has a big bronze statue of Alice sitting on a mushroom, and kids climb on it every day. Alice stays popular because she never stops asking questions, even when all the grown-ups around her make no sense.

• literature
• fairy tales
• wonderland
• reading