Fireside Reading of Through the Looking Glass

By Lewis Carroll

Experiencing a story read out loud is one of the oldest forms of entertainment there is. Fireside Reading is a way to slow down, reconnect with the timeless wisdom of great books and rediscover the simple pleasure of being read to. Join Gildart Jackson in front of a cozy fire as he reads Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll to you and your family from beginning to end.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dreamscape Media
• Release date: May 31, 2022
• ISBN: 9781666611373

Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll (1832 - 1898) is the pseudonym of English author, mathematician, logician, and photographer Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, but he is also well known for his poems “The Hunting of the Snark” and “Jabberwocky,” which, like his novels, are examples of literary nonsense. A beloved children’s author, he is noted for his facility at word play, logic, and fantasy.

Book preview

CHAPTER I.

LOOKING-GLASS HOUSE

One thing was certain, that the white kitten had had nothing to do with it:—it was the black kitten’s fault entirely. For the white kitten had been having its face washed by the old cat for the last quarter of an hour (and bearing it pretty well, considering); so you see that it couldn’t have had any hand in the mischief.

The way Dinah washed her children’s faces was this: first she held the poor thing down by its ear with one paw, and then with the other paw she rubbed its face all over, the wrong way, beginning at the nose: and just now, as I said, she was hard at work on the white kitten, which was lying quite still and trying to purr—no doubt feeling that it was all meant for its good.

But the black kitten had been finished with earlier in the afternoon, and so, while Alice was sitting curled up in a corner of the great arm-chair, half talking to herself and half asleep, the kitten had been having a grand game of romps with the ball of worsted Alice had been trying to wind up, and had been rolling it up and down till it had all come undone again; and there it was, spread over the hearth-rug, all knots and tangles, with the kitten running after its own tail in the middle.

Oh, you wicked little thing! cried Alice, catching up the kitten, and giving it a little kiss to make it understand that it was in disgrace. "Really, Dinah ought to have taught you better manners! You ought, Dinah, you know you ought!" she added, looking reproachfully at the old cat, and speaking in as cross a voice as she could manage—and then she scrambled back into the arm-chair, taking the kitten and the worsted with her, and began winding up the ball again. But she didn’t get on very fast, as she was talking all the time, sometimes to the kitten, and sometimes to herself. Kitty sat very demurely on her knee, pretending to watch the progress of the winding, and now and then putting out one paw and gently touching the ball, as if it would be glad to help, if it might.

Do you know what to-morrow is, Kitty? Alice began. You’d have guessed if you’d been up in the window with me—only Dinah was making you tidy, so you couldn’t. I was watching the boys getting in sticks for the bonfire—and it wants plenty of sticks, Kitty! Only it got so cold, and it snowed so, they had to leave off. Never mind, Kitty, we’ll go and see the bonfire to-morrow. Here Alice wound two or three turns of the worsted round the kitten’s neck, just to see how it would look: this led to a scramble, in which the ball rolled down upon the floor, and yards and yards of it got unwound again.

Do you know, I was so angry, Kitty, Alice went on as soon as they were comfortably settled again, when I saw all the mischief you had been doing, I was very nearly opening the window, and putting you out into the snow! And you’d have deserved it, you little mischievous darling! What have you got to say for yourself? Now don’t interrupt me! she went on, holding up one finger. I’m going to tell you all your faults. Number one: you squeaked twice while Dinah was washing your face this morning. Now you can’t deny it, Kitty: I heard you! What’s that you say? (pretending that the kitten was speaking.) "Her paw went into your eye? Well, that’s your fault, for keeping your eyes open—if you’d shut them tight up, it wouldn’t have happened. Now don’t make any more excuses, but listen! Number two: you pulled Snowdrop away by the tail just as I had put down the saucer of milk before her! What, you were thirsty, were you? How do you know she wasn’t thirsty too? Now for number three: you unwound every bit of the worsted while I wasn’t looking!

"That’s three faults, Kitty, and you’ve not been punished for any of them yet. You know I’m saving up all your punishments for Wednesday week—Suppose they had saved up all my punishments! she went on, talking more to herself than the kitten. What would they do at the end of a year? I should be sent to prison, I suppose, when the day came. Or—let me see—suppose each punishment was to be going without a dinner: then, when the miserable day came, I should have to go without fifty dinners at once! Well, I shouldn’t mind that much! I’d far rather go without them than eat them!

"Do you hear the snow against the window-panes, Kitty? How nice and soft it sounds! Just as if some one was kissing the window all over outside. I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, ‘Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.’ And when they wake up in the summer, Kitty, they dress themselves all in green, and dance about—whenever the wind blows—oh, that’s very pretty! cried Alice, dropping the ball of worsted to clap her hands. And I do so wish it was true! I’m sure the woods look sleepy in the autumn, when the leaves are getting brown.

"Kitty, can you play chess? Now, don’t smile, my dear, I’m asking it seriously. Because, when we were playing just now, you watched just as if you understood it: and when I said ‘Check!’ you purred! Well, it was a nice check, Kitty, and really I might have won, if it hadn’t been for that nasty Knight, that came wiggling down among my pieces. Kitty, dear, let’s pretend— And here I wish I could tell you half the things Alice used to say, beginning with her favourite phrase Let’s pretend. She had had quite a long argument with her sister only the day before—all because Alice had begun with Let’s pretend we’re kings and queens; and her sister, who liked being very exact, had argued that they couldn’t, because there were only two of them, and Alice had been reduced at last to say, Well, you can be one of them then, and I’ll be all the rest. And once she had really frightened her old nurse by shouting suddenly in her ear, Nurse! Do let’s pretend that I’m a hungry hyaena, and you’re a bone."

But this is taking us away from Alice’s speech to the kitten. 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?"

"Now, if you’ll only attend, Kitty, and not talk so much, I’ll tell you all my ideas about Looking-glass House. First, there’s the room you can see through the glass—that’s just the same as our drawing room, only the things go the other way. I can see all of it when I get upon a chair—all but the bit behind the fireplace. Oh! I do so wish I could see that bit! I want so much to know whether they’ve a fire in the winter: you never can tell, you know, unless our fire smokes, and then smoke comes up in that room too—but that may be only pretence, just to make it look as if they had a fire. Well then, the books are something like our books, only the words go the wrong way; I know that, because I’ve held up one of our books to the glass, and then they hold up one in the other room.

"How would you like to live in Looking-glass House, Kitty? I wonder if they’d give you milk in there? Perhaps Looking-glass milk isn’t good to drink—But oh, Kitty! now we come to the passage. You can just see a little peep of the passage in Looking-glass House, if you leave the door of our drawing-room wide open: and it’s very like our passage as far as you can see, only you know it may be quite different on beyond. Oh, Kitty! how nice it would be if we could only get through into Looking-glass House! I’m sure it’s got, oh! such beautiful things in it! Let’s pretend there’s a way of getting through into it, somehow, Kitty. Let’s pretend the glass has got all soft like gauze, so that we can get through.

Reviews for Fireside Reading of Through the Looking Glass

[foof2you · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Another tale of Alice, this time going through the looking glass. Did not find this interesting or entertaining just a bunch of words that meant nothing. Maybe if I was 10 and reading this it might be more interesting or funny.

[jamiem12 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

So sadly i did an audio book and it was very poorly narrated by different people each chapter. Kinda bad.... Ruined it for me but i know its a good story so i leave 4 stars

[bdgamer-669415 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I knew the Alice books were charmingly weird and random, but I wasn't prepared for such a high level of anarchy. This time around the characters are stranger and even more chaotic than the original. But there's a certain level of fun in them, although it does get rather played out by the end of the story.

I enjoyed the story, but the original was better when it came to memorable characters. Despite being a short read, it'll leave you wondering philosophically about dreams and existence.

[littlerob · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love all things Alice. This edition has beautiful illustrations by Bessie Pease Gutmann.

[etxgardener · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Alice and her cat Dinah step through the looking glass and enter a kingdom of strange creatures and have many adventures. Every once in a while you must re-read these classics.

[readandfindout · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4.5 stars. Going into it, I expected that I was only going to enjoy select parts of this book. I'm pleased to say that I was wrong! Though the majority of this book is nonsensical, the word play throughout is so fun and endearing. I really loved the whimsy.

[nx74defiant · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My favorite. I love this book. The Jaberwarky, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum and every thing else. I prefer this book to Alice in Wonderland.

[glennbell_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book is even worse than Alice in Wonderland due to the lack of sense. Although the story is supposed to be a dream, one would hope for some value from the story. There are some bright spots in that some humor can be found. I do not see the value in reading this story.

[benuathanasia · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Far more intriguing than the original. I enjoyed the chessboard theme.

[thedivineoomba · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've been staying away from this book, I think it was because there was a made for TV movie based on this book that I saw as a kid, and it was rather scary....However, this book is not scary at all, I was expecting more Jabberwocky, and outside of a poem, there was no mention of it all. Generally, this book is nonsensical, with flashes of logic. There is no rhyme or reason to what Alice does, its just nonsensical encounter after nonsensical encounter. This book doesn't have much of relation to the Alice in Wonderland, being set in a different game entirely.I think I preffered the first book better than the second. In this book, Alice has no real reason for doing what she does, just that it happens.Overall, its a fast read and rather enjoyable.

[breton07 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I liked this edition so much. I enjoyed re-reading the book since my childhood. However, being able to see how Lewis Carroll's own illustrations influenced Sir John Tenniel's was inspiring! Their collaboration really worked!I've always felt this book was a second home for me. I had a chance to read about the world as its crazy self. It is a coming of age story about a girl who is curious, outspoken, and opinionated. A great fantasy novel reflects who we are-sometimes hugely important, sometimes small and inconsequential. One of my favorite poems,"Jabberwocky", is in this book.-Breton W Kaiser Taylor

[marsap_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Through the Looking Glass is the sequel to Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Set about 6 months, Alice again enters a fantastical world, but this time climbing through a mirror into the world that she can see beyond it. The looking-glass world she enters takes the form of a giant chessboard, the squares divided by hedges and brooks. Nothing is quite what it seems. Carroll explores concepts of mirror imagery, time running backward, and strategies of chess, through stories and characters of the Red and White Queens, the White Knight (who is my favorite character), Tweedledee and Tweedledum, Humpty Dumpty and more. The book is full of full of humor, word play, puzzles and rhymes and well as two poems that have taken on a life of their own "Jabberwocky" and "The Walrus and the Carpenter." Though I enjoyed Alice’s Adventure—this sequel was a nice treat—perfect for the whole family. 4 out of 5 stars.

[bookson23rd · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lewis Carroll’s ‘Through The Looking Glass’ was first published over one hundred years ago and is a classic in children’s literature. In essence, it is about the struggle of childhood.
In Alice’s dream there are symbolisms of the constraints on childhood and what one must go through in order to become an adult. Along the way there is practically nothing that she herself does in order to move the story along – everything is presented to her without much option, just like in childhood. She touches a goat’s beard and finds herself sitting under a tree. A fawn will only tell her something if she walks farther into the woods with it. Alice wonders which fingerpost to follow, yet there is only one road.
Near the beginning of the story, she is trying to leave her ‘house’ and get to the top of a ‘hill’, representing the initial struggle.
“So young a child,’ said the gentleman… (he was dressed in white paper), ‘ought to know which way she’s going…” is an example that signifies that the innocence of childhood precedes the decision of goals one must choose for their adult livelihood.
When Alice decides she wants to be Queen, the White Knight, representing purity and goodness, says “I’ll see you safe to the end of the wood…” meaning that if she is pure and good, she will make it through childhood. He also gives her the wise counsel, “The great art of riding…is to keep your balance properly,” meaning that if she continues with moderation in life she will be successful.
At the end, she stands before an arched doorway over which the words ‘Queen Alice’ are written, the arch representing the graduation from child to adult. As an adult she finds her voice and challenges the Red Queen (authority) by demanding that pudding be brought back to the table. Then she “conquered her shyness by a great effort and cut a slice…” and hands it to the Queen. By doing this, Alice is showing that she has become her own person.
This is one of the few older children's classics that I would actually read to a child because it does have good moral lessons in an entertaining environment. The original illustrations are really great. Highly recommended!

[cyderry · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

First, I never realized that there were separate adventures for Alice and I was startled to find that one of them included Humpty Dumpty. This was a fun few hours reliving a story from childhood.

[lucybrown_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Alice is (exactly) six months older then when she fell down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. This perhaps is the reason for what I found to be the greatest difference in Alice's adventures in Wonderland and those she had in the Looking-Glass world. Wonderland borders on the nightmarish. Alice is often quite frightened and totally flummoxed by her situations. So distraught is she at one point she ends up swimming in a pool of her own tears. Of course, those tears had been shed when she was much bigger, and, woe, she has shrunk again. In Looking Glass, Alice sometimes becomes irritated with the seeming lack of rationality possessed by the citizens of this backwards world, but rarely to the point of tears or anger. Through her greater maturity at times she is able to remember she is in a mirror land, and her knowledge of the game of chess allows some glimmer of understanding as well. Still some of the word play is a source of perplexity, especially in the case of the words "jam" (iam),the Latin word for a now meaning at that previous time, not meaning at this time, and the rowing terms "feather" and "crab." Besides in Looking-Glass world Alice as a more definite and positive goal - becoming Queen. The "adults" while sometimes vexing or demanding are never as threatening as those of Wonderland. No one is threatening "off with her head." Poor little hedgehogs are not being knocked about by poor flamingos at the Queen's Croquet game. In fact of the inhabitants such as the White Queen and White Knight are endearing in their eccentricity drawing from Alice a bemused sympathy and affection. Yes, Alice faces frustration but as a now older child she takes it in stride. Frequently she thinks about how it would be best not to get into an argument. She has become more disciplined, diplomatic and acquiescent since Wonderland.

There are the obvious differences, one story features characters which are cards, the other chess pieces which explains the oddness of their movements, or in the case of the sleeping king, non-movement. Through the Looking Glass begins the night before Guy Fawkes with Alice indoors watching snow fall on the fields of Oxford. The summer garden where Alice followed the rabbit is covered with snow. Not surprisingly in her new dream she goes into a lush, garden world.

While there are more songs and poems, though Alice rather wishes there weren't, there is less political satire. There have been attempts to interpret the Walrus and the Carpenter as combination portrayal as Buddha/Ganesha and the Carpenter as Christ, the interpretation falls apart when one finds it was John Tenniel who chose the Carpenter from three choices offered by author.

Through the Looking Glass is an amusing book though for me, it lacked Wonderland's psychological and satirical punch. I also miss the fiery, contentious Alice of Wonderland. Alice has grown up quite nicely-perhaps too nicely to be as much fun. However, it is easy to get caught up in Looking-Glass's whimsy. One can't help loving the White Knight who for all of his inventiveness never manages to stay on his horse. What's to be done; that is just the nature of a knight in chess, always confined to their hurky-gurky movement. Never a straight path for them. So it seems with most of us.

My cat, Lucia, would like to point out that Kitty is an offensive name for a cat. She says one should no more name a cat Kitty, than name a baby Baby. Though pleasant enough has a term of endearment, it is no name at all for a cat. She would happily lend her own name in any future revisions of the book. She also says the name Snowdrop is beneath comment.

[joeydag · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

High school. There was a time when I tried to read everything I could find by Carroll

[trilliams · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Less of a commentary than the first book, more of a child-sized acid trip (if that's a thing). Also, Humpty Dumpty is an ass, but you knew that.

[santhony_35 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

For Christmas, I ordered an mp3 player (Library of Classics) that was pre-loaded with 100 works of classic literature in an audio format. Each work is in the public domain and is read by amateurs, so the quality of the presentation is hit or miss. Through the Looking Glass is Louis Carroll’s sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. It introduces us to characters such as Tweedledum and Twedledee, Humpty Dumpty and the Red and White Queens as Alice makes her way across a virtual chess board in an effort to be crowned Queen. The story is too irredeemably silly to appeal to most adults and at the same time too witty and complex for children, raising the question of target audience. Certainly, there are several very amusing and intelligent interactions, with excellent dialogue, but these are few and far between, buried in pages of absurdity. This is a very short work, hard to recommend.

[something_-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I didn't love this one as much as I loved the first one, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which immediately became one of my favourite books. The translation of the poems left a lot to be desired, though that is always a difficult thing to make sound right in a translation. On the other hand, all the word plays one could probably find in english were much harder to come across in portuguese. Also, I dare say the world on the other side of the mirror came across as perhaps a bit too scattered. I plan on giving the english version a go as soon as I get my hands into a copy though.

[librarycatnip · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Much better than Alice in Wonderland.

[behemothing-2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"The shop seemed to be full of all manner of curious things-- but the oddest part of it all was, that whenever she looked hard at any shelf, to make out exactly what it had on it, that particular shelf was always quite empty: though the others round it were crowded as full as they could hold."

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not nearly so good as "Wonderland." Wonderland used more of a central theme. The theme of this one, crossing a very wacky chessboard on the way to becoming a queen, is easily forgotten and the adventures seem choppier. But all in all, some wonderful writing for children. Carroll was extremely creative!

[raselyem7 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Much better than Alice in Wonderland.

[wagner5sarah35 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Instead of a rabbit-hole, this time Alice falls through a mirror in her parlor into the fantastical realm of Wonderland. She encounters Humpty Dumpty, a variety of monarchs, and has the chance to become a queen if she can venture through a countryside arranged as a chessboard. Similar to the previous novel in its nonsensical happenings, Through the Looking-Glass nevertheless dives further into questions about life, knowledge, and perception than Alice in Wonderland.

[sbloom42 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

While this book is chock full of puns and wordplay, I didn't like it as much as "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". The structure of the story is setup so that Alice moves from square to square across a chessboard in her dream, and I found the linerality of that movement much less enjoyable to read than the circularity of "Wonderland". Lewis Carroll also breaks into the story multiple times to tell the reader how Alice interpreted her dream upon waking, and I found that to be intrusive. I'd much rather have the author leave me guessing about whether or not the story is a dream, as he does through most of "Wonderland". But I did enjoy the wordplay and how most of the characters in Alice's dream interpret words and phrases literally and how that leads to miscommunications. I think this is a good story for children who are slightly older than ones who would enjoy "Wonderland".

[thatotter-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards.

[lilibrarian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In this sequel to Alice in Wonderland, Alice goes through a mirror, meets the red and white queens, and becomes part of a life-sized chess game with very interesting and unusual characters.

[cayenneellis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I just wrote a big review and accidentally deleted it. Sigh.This was a good book. I definitely enjoyed it! But I don't think it really stood up to the first Alice. This nonsense book seemed a little more nonsensical, with less rhyme or reason behind it. The sense that I think I was supposed make out of it came to me later than it should have; the kittens = the queens? Whoops! I did really enjoy the inclusion of all the poetry in this volume, however, and I was also surprised at the inclusion of so much iconic Alice canon such as Tweedledum and Tweedledee as well as The Jabberwocky. I would recommend this book if for no other reason than what an easy read it was, even if you're worried you might not like it - I read it start to finish cover to cover. It was definitely cute and worth reading.

[bereneezypie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Although I like this book, I didn't find it nearly as entertaining as Alice in Wonderland. In Wonderland, it seemed as if the silliness came natural, whereas this book seemed to be forcing it a little (at the times it was silly).

[sschreur-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Also a fun romp through a nonsensical land, but Alice is a bit annoying in this book and the characters a bit less fun. The book skates between organized and complete nonsense, when it should stick with one or the other. Overall a wonderful book but not for readers who like order and a straight plot line!