Alice in Wonderland is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatures. It is seen as an example of the literary nonsense genre. The artist John Tenniel provided 42 wood-engraved illustrations for the book.

It received positive reviews upon release and is now one of the best-known works of Victorian literature; its narrative, structure, characters, and imagery have had a widespread influence on popular culture and literature, especially in the fantasy genre. It is credited as helping end an era of didacticism in children’s literature, inaugurating an era in which writing for children aimed to “delight or entertain.”

The tale plays with logic, giving the story lasting popularity with adults and children. The titular character Alice shares her given name with Alice Liddell, a girl Carroll knew.

I purchased a copy of this book for my own reading.

This formed another part of my 2025 Reading Challenge, checking off a children’s book. It’s also another classic that I’ve somehow never read! I know enough of the story, and yet there was still plenty to it that I didn’t know.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. I’ve seen the film, albeit so many years ago now. But the book took the crazy to a whole new level. It’s quite a short read, so the page time given to the hare and the Mad Hatter is shorter than you’d think.

And yet they still shine. All of the characters and events many will know and love appear in the book – the Queen of Hearts, the Hare, the Mad Hatter, the caterpillar and the Cheshire Cat all put in appearances. It might be a tougher read for children today with its dated language, but having read some classics more recently, I loved it.

My rating: