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Informationen zum Autor Pam Pollack and Meg Belviso; Illustrated by Joseph J. M. Qiu Klappentext Meet the man who created Alice! the Mad Hatter! and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum! Lewis Carroll is the pen name of Charles L. Dodgson! a mathematician and church deacon! who taught at Oxford University. He was inspired to write his best known works! Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass ! by one of the Dean's daughters! Alice Liddell. The books were hugely successful and brought Carroll wide acclaim! especially for the nonsense poems "Jabberwocky" and The Hunting of the Snark . Children and adults continue to be delighted by the fantasy of the Alice stories! which have been the basis of plays and movies since their publication in Victorian England during the 1860s and 1870s. Who Was Lewis Carroll? On July 4, 1862, a small boat sailed down the Isis River—a part of the famous Thames—in Oxford, England. Three sisters, Lorina, Alice, and Edith Liddell, were enjoying a day on the water with family friends Robinson Duckworth and Charles Dodgson. The two men taught at Oxford University with Mr. Liddell, the girls’ father. Charles Dodgson was like no other adult the girls knew. He was very smart. He taught math at the university. He loved to invent puzzles and games. He took dozens of photos of the girls dressed up in costumes with a very new invention: the camera. But best of all, Charles told great stories. He often made them up on the spot, taking ideas from real life and making them seem funny or magical. As he rowed the boat that day, Charles made up a story about a girl—also named Alice—who chased a white rabbit into its hole and fell into a strange, wonderful new world. In this world, many of the characters seemed a lot like the people in Alice Liddell’s own life, only funnier. Everyone in the boat inspired a character in the story. A duck for Reverend Duckworth, an imaginary bird called a Lory for Lorina, and an Eaglet for Edith. Charles himself was represented by a Dodo. This was not too surprising because he had a slight stutter. Sometimes when he said his last name it came out Do-do-dodgson. Charles’s friend Duckworth was amazed that Charles could make up such an enchanting story so quickly. Later that day, Alice wondered: Could Charles write the new story down so she could read it again and again? Charles sometimes wrote and published poetry and essays under a made-up name (called a pen name), Lewis Carroll. But he had never been asked to write a children’s story. He promised Alice he would. The world is lucky that Alice Liddell asked for that favor! Because the story Charles wrote as Lewis Carroll became one of the most famous children’s stories of all time: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland . Chapter 1: Fun and Games Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was born on January 27, 1832. His father was a country parson. Just like a priest, he was in charge of the local church. Charles’s home life in Daresbury, England, was very religious. The family read the Bible and went to church often. When Charles was born, he already had two older sisters. Over time his parents would have eleven children in all, seven girls and four boys. Almost all of them had a stutter like Charles, who was also deaf in his right ear. Charles loved his life in Daresbury. His mother was very patient and kind. His brothers and sisters were a lot of fun. Charles was a curious boy who wanted to learn about the world. He climbed trees and played with frogs. His father taught him math, reading, and even how to speak Latin. One day when Charles was very young, he brought his father a book of advanced math equations and asked, “Please, explain.” His father told him he was too young to understand such complicated things. Charl...
