Alice Through the Looking-glass, by Lewis Carroll
Posted by aaronjen | Filed under Books
I recently started reading Alice Through the Looking-glass by Lewis Carroll to our almost 6 year old son, Noah. It is a sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and was apparently inspired when Carroll was teaching an 11-year-old Alice Liddell (a friend’s child) how to play chess. We are enjoying it a lot, not only because of the great characters and story line which send us deep into our imaginations, but also because the illustrations by Helen Oxenbury really bring the story to life. This is a beautiful book. I must admit that I’ve never read any Lewis Carroll books before (oddly starting with the sequel of the Alice story – Noah says we’re reading them backwards like we’re living in Looking-glass House), and had only seen this old TV movie adaptation when I was a child, and so had no idea what I was in for, or even if it would keep Noah’s interest. And having found out that this book was originally published in 1871, I cannot believe how much this story has stood the test of time, which is saying a lot, given it is a children’s book.
Having said that, I became fairly disturbed when I was reading the Wikipedia article on Lewis Carroll, because I came to find out that he was never married, and made friends with/photographed young children, and some have suggested he was a paedophile. And on the back of Michael Jackson’s death/memorial service and all the media attention that has come with it, rehashing old accusations/mysteries about who he was, it has got me wondering about how we as parents balance between keeping our children safe from harm and enjoying true artistic expression, whether it be music or a novel. Maybe I’m just naive, but I’d really like to think that neither Lewis Carroll, nor Michael Jackson, were two-faced, and I grieve to think of Jackson’s three children and what has/will happen to them in the coming weeks/months/years. Yet while I will continue to read and enjoy this book with Noah, I won’t be encouraging my little researcher into finding out about who the author was, for I would hate to have to explain to him whatever he might find online, such as I found in that Wikipedia article. - JRR
Tags: Alice in Wonderland, Alice Through the Looking-glass, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, Michael Jackson, parenting, reading
