Lewis Carroll was the penname of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who brought us Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. This guy was mathematician who studied at the University of Oxford—wouldn't have nabbed him as a Jabberwocky man, huh?

Here's the thing: Carroll got along really well with children. He befriended an Oxford family with three young girls and started telling them stories; they were so good that the girls asked him to write them down. One of those stories was Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865)

You know the one: it's the story about the curious little girl who follows a rabbit and ends up falling into a rabbit hole. The rabbit hole leads her into a world of grinning cats, talking caterpillars, a Queen of Hearts, and more wonkiness than anyone (except Carroll) could ever imagine.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland became an instant hit when it was first published. The story's fantastic world appealed to children everywhere, and the book was also popular among adults—that's why it's had such a big influence on fantasy writers everywhere.

Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871)

In this sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice enters another magical world—this time by making her way into and through a mirror. Like its prequel, this book is also full of extraordinary things: talking flowers, chess pieces that come to life, and a guy (or rather an egg) called Humpty Dumpty.

On one level, this is a children's book, but on another, it's full of complicated imagery and symbolism. The book picks up on and mirrors some of the motifs in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. While Alice's Adventures begins outdoors, the sequel begins indoors. While a deck of cards is a motif in Alice's Adventures, in this book it's chess.

Chew on This

Take a look at our analysis of youth in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.

Fantastic things immediately begin to happen when Alice walks through the mirror in Through the Looking-Glass. Check out what Alice begins to see (Quote #7).