Amazon.com
Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has continuously delighted readers, young and old, for more than a century. This classic tale, interpreted by many outstanding artists over the years, is a remarkable story of one little girl who embarks on possibly one of the most amazing adventures in literary history. In this stunning special edition, Helen Oxenbury turns her hand to what is certainly no small project and has succeeded in surpassing expectation. More abundantly illustrated than other editions of the same work, this unabridged version is packed with contemporary and accessible interpretations of the kaleidoscope of characters--the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, the Queen of Hearts--who have each captured the imaginations of generations of children. Alice herself is portrayed as a thoroughly modern miss--casually dressed, personable, and spirited--and her surroundings are brought to effervescent life with a warmth, depth, and distinctive sense of humor that perfectly complement the shenanigans of the topsy-turvy world of Wonderland. (Ages 7 and older) --Susan Harrison, Amazon.co.uk
From Publishers Weekly
If Zwerger's Alice (reviewed above) is deliciously cryptic, Oxenbury's (Tom and Pippo books) brims with the fun and frights of a visit to an amusement park. In perhaps her most ambitious work to date, Oxenbury applies her finely honed instinct for a child's perspective to create an Alice accessible to all ages. With the opening scene of a tomboyish heroine slumped against her sister who is reading under a tree, the artist seems to answer Alice's first line: "What is the use of a book... without pictures or conversations?" Nearly every spread contains either a spot-line drawing or full-bleed full-color painting. The artist nods to Tenniel with her hilarious portrait of the waistcoated White Rabbit and even extends the metaphor of the "grin without a cat" with a quartet of watercolors as the Cheshire Cat begins to disappearAuntil only his grin remains. The villains here are more stoogelike than menacing, including the baby-throwing Duchess and the Queen of Hearts, and Oxenbury makes the most of such comic opportunities as the entangled powdered wigs of the Frog-Footman and Fish-Footman. A series of cleverly choreographed closing scenes shows Alice in the Queen's courtroom, pelted by the playing cards that, on the next spread, seem to have transformed into the falling leaves of the tree where Alice awakens and her sister gives her a kiss; a poignant parting shot of Alice's sister silhouetted at dusk under the tree, with sheep grazing in the field, acknowledges the shift in tone of Carroll's conclusion. An ideal first introduction to a lifelong favorite read. Ages 8-up. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
