HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LEWIS CARROLL - CELEBRATING THE ALICE BOOKS WITH A MAD TEA PARTY!

"Take some more tea," the March Hare said to  Alice, very earnestly.

"I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone, "so I can't take more."

"You mean you can't take LESS," said the Hatter: "it's very easy to take MORE than nothing."

"Nobody asked YOUR opinion," said Alice.

"Who's making personal remarks now?" the Hatter asked triumphantly.

Illustration by M.L. Kirk

"Who are YOU?" said the Caterpillar.This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, "I--I hardly know, sir, just at present-- at least I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then."                                       

"Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin," thought Alice;"but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in my life!"

Disney's Animation.

The White Rabbit shop

The White Rabbit put on his spectacles. "Where shall I begin, please your Majesty?" he asked.
"Begin at the beginning," the King said gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop."

"Let's pretend that you're the Red Queen, Kitty! Do you know, I think if you sat up and folded your arms, you'd look exactly like her. Now do try, there's a dear!" And Alice got the Red Queen off the table, and set it up before the kitten as a model for it to imitate: however, the thing didn't succeed, principally, Alice said, because the kitten wouldn't fold its arms properly. So, to punish it, she held it up to the Looking-glass, that it might see how sulky it was -- "and if you're not good directly," she added, "I'll put you through into Looking-glass House. How would you like that?"

"Alice and Chessie"
The Fairies' Nest

"Your majesty shouldn't purr so loud," Alice said, rubbing her eyes, and addressing the kitten, respectfully, yet with some severity. "You woke me out of oh! such a nice dream! And you've been along with me, Kitty -- all through the Looking-Glass world. Did you know it, dear?"


I hope you enjoyed my Mad Hatter Tea Party!  If you're one of the first 6 people to leave a comment (excluding mine of course) by then end of  today, 1-27-11 - I'll send you a little package of Disney Wonderland Teabags ... just enough for your own tea party.


Click Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to see the broad range of choices for these books from Amazon. (You can arrange them by age.)

"CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER": AUTHOR LEWIS CARROLL

Born: January 27, 1832
Died: January 14, 1898

Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Dodgson invented his pen name by translating his first two names into the Latin "Carolus Lodovicus" and then anglicizing it into "Lewis Carroll")  Besides being the author of the "Alice" books, he was a Victorian-era logician and mathematics tutor at Christ Church, Oxford (you'll see how that comes into play in a minute).
  

Disney's Alice

Because of the popularity of the Disney movie, many people don't realize there are two Alice books and that neither of them is titled "Alice in Wonderland". The first book (published in 1865) was Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and has an undeniable card deck theme - with "The Queen of Hearts" being a dominant character. The second book, titled Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, (published in 1872), switched to a chess theme - where two Queens, Red and White, appear.

Anyway, back to the math:  I recently came across a fascinating article written by Melanie Bayley for New Scientist about the curious mathematical aspects of the Alice books.  She says that what many have assumed to merely be fantastic imaginary tales for children, were actually Dodgson's (Carroll's) attempts to parody the absurdities of mid-19th century's new abstract mathematics - "Wonderland's madness reflects Carroll's views on the dangers of the new symbolic algebra".


And in this nonsensical world, Carroll seems to make the Cheshire Cat the logical voice of traditional geometry:

"'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'

'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.

'I don't much care where--' said Alice.

'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.

'--so long as I get SOMEWHERE,' Alice added as an explanation.

'Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, 'if you only walk long enough.'"

Speaking of nonsense, I can't even begin to understand ykcowrebbaJ!!!!!

Illustrations by John Tenniel (1820-1914/English)

Click here for some fun ideas in case you want to throw a MAD HATTER TEA PARTY to celebrate Lewis Carroll's birthday tomorrow!
(By the way, I just realized in re-reading Carroll's texts: that whole "un-birthday" thing doesn't take place at the famous Tea Party, but is rather a conversation that takes place between Alice and Humpty-Dumpty in the second book!  I guess I watched the Disney version too many times!  What misconceptions have you had?)

FROM ONE MARY TO ANOTHER...A LOOK AT THE ARTWORK OF MARY BLAIR (A guest-post by Mary Honore)

A post by my daughter, Mary, who spent nine wonderful months "working" for Disneyland Paris...


“This is a story about darkness and light, about sorrow and joy, about something lost and something found. This is a story about Love.” (from CINDERELLA, illustrated by Mary Blair, told by Cynthia Rylant)

Who could resist reading a story that begins with these magical words?? Luckily for us, these words are the beginning of not only a well-loved story, but also the perfect description of the life of the children’s book illustrator featured in today’s blog: Mary Blair.

Mary Blair was an artistic pioneer and talent her entire life, but it is her work for the Walt Disney Studios that is most well known throughout the world today. If your children have ever experienced the magic of the “It's a Small World” attraction at Disneyland, or watched such classic Disney films as Peter Pan, Cinderella, and Alice in Wonderland, they will absolutely love Mary Blair’s illustrated works! Mary was both fearless and untraditional when it came to color styling and concept art, so much so that even though none of Mary’s actual drawings are directly shown in Disney animation, her work gave her renown throughout the studio, and Walt Disney favored her vivid artwork and unique vision above many other artists. Her bold designs and bright images hold a special appeal for children, making her illustrations both compelling and familiar.


FOR AGES 4+:  In recent years, Mary Blair’s artwork for the three Disney animated films listed above has been collected and published as children’s stories, with creative re-tellings by various contemporary children’s book authors. Children are captivated by the beautiful, colorful, and un-fussy drawings—a feast for the eyes! Combined with loving and thoughtful telling, these books are sure favorites for any child’s library!


CINDERELLA  (told by Cynthia Rylant) A romantic and idealist from the very youngest age, books about the rewards of waiting for true love always stuck with me as a child and even into my adult life. I think that this particular telling of the classic fairytale is an excellent way of teaching children the virtues of prudence and charity. As an example of its beauty, allow me to share with you my favorite quote from the book: “Who can say by what mystery two people find each other in this great wide world?” (*note: see my previous post about Cinderella for more wonderful tellings of this beautiful story!)

Cinderella watching, as her pumpkin becomes a coach!

Cinderella's coach arrives at the ball!

ALICE IN WONDERLAND (told by Jon Scieszka) If you feel that Lewis Caroll’s original novel is a bit too mature for your younger children, this rendition of his story is the perfect way to introduce them to Alice’s whimsical Wonderland. I especially love the quirky tea party images and the very bright colors throughout the entire storybook!

Alice at the Mad Hatter and March Hare’s Un-Birthday Tea Party

PETER PAN (told by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson) The classic J.M. Barrie novel, Peter Pan, has held a dear place in my heart since 8th grade, and I have read it again and again! However, children may not pick up on Barrie’s satire and subtleties in his original work, so a picture-book telling is a much more appropriate beginning to this classic tale of responsibility and growing up. The very geometric illustrations capture all the beauty of the Neverland, and the rather child-like character of the drawings is quaint and lovable.

Peter with the Mermaids (front cover)

 FOR AGES 1-4:  Blair also worked as an illustrator for the Little Golden Books for a short while, illustrating I CAN FLY, BABY'S HOUSE, THE GOLDEN BOOK OF LITTLE VERSES, and THE NEW GOLDEN SONGBOOK. “Charming” is truly the best possible description of these adorable illustrations, and they will especially be appreciated by toddlers and very young children, but also by the adults who have the pleasure of sharing them!

The author and her mom at Shakespeare and Co. bookstore in Paris

...and in the rain at the Luxemborg Gardens, Paris!

The author at work at Disneyland Paris...