Who Was Lewis Carroll?

Who Was . . . ? Series

by Pam Pollack, Meg Belviso, Joseph J.M. Qiu (Illustrations)

Meet the man who created Alice, the Mad Hatter, and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum!

Lewis Carroll is the pen name of Charles L. Dodgson, a mathematician and church deacon, who taught at Oxford University. He was inspired to write his best known works, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass , by one of the Dean's daughters, Alice Liddell. The books were hugely successful and brought Carroll wide acclaim, especially for the nonsense poems "Jabberwocky" and The Hunting of the Snark .

Children and adults continue to be delighted by the fantasy of the Alice stories, which have been the basis of plays and movies since their publication in Victorian England during the 1860s and 1870s.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Childrens, History, Biography Memoir, Middle Grade

112 pages, Paperback

Published October 3, 2017

About the author

Pamela Pollack is a writer/editor/compiler of children's and young adult books.

Reviews

[Brynhild Svanhvit]

Es una somera biografía de Charles Dodgson/ Lewis Carroll, pensada para niños de unos ocho o diez años. Muy breve y con muchos dibujos, se lee en unos veinte minutos.

Para la edad a la que está destinada, la biografía es suficiente y adecuada, aunque es de esperar que suprima mucha información. Solo habla de Alicia en el País de las Maravillas, A través del espejo y La caza del snark, y se refiere de pasada a sus tratados matemáticos; no alude a sus otras obras de ficción ni a los libros divulgativos de lógica simbólica. En los capítulos dedicados a su infancia, y aunque habla de los juegos que inventaba para entretener a sus numerosos hermanos menores, no menciona que ya de pequeño escribía poesías, cuentos y adivinanzas, y los "publicaba" en periódicos y revistas en los que colaboraba toda la familia. También hay algunos errores, como el incluir una ilustración de A través del espejo cuando todavía está en el episodio de Alicia en el País de las Maravillas, o explicar que el autor solo comenzó a pensar en publicar Alicia en el País de las Maravillas después de haberle entregado una versión manuscrita a Alice Liddell, la niña que inspiró el cuento. De hecho, trabajó paralelamente en la versión manuscrita y en una versión revisada para la publicación.

Un aspecto del libro que me ha gustado es que tiene pequeños cuadros de información extra, no relacionados directamente con Carroll pero sí con su época: por ejemplo, cuando la biografía cuenta que el joven Charles comenzó a estudiar en el colegio de Rugby, un cuadro explica brevemente el origen del deporte; y al aludir por primera vez a la reina Victoria, hay también un apartado de la importancia de su reinado en la historia del Reino Unido. Estos cuadros aparte son muy cortos, pero complementan muy bien la biografía porque ayudan a hacerse una idea del mundo en que vivía Carroll.

Por sus características, lo puedo recomendar a los niños de la edad para la que está pensado, pero también a adultos que quieran saber algo sobre el autor sin tiempo o necesidad de profundizar demasiado.

[Pete]

Amazing little book! I don’t remember why I picked up this book but glad I did. The book had so many tidbits about Lewis Carroll like how he created his own name, his upbringing, and how one of his famous books was created. The book gives a summary of his life from a child to an adult. A joy to read….

[Alex]

Learned a lot from this!

[Alicia]

I certainly know more about Lewis Carroll aka Charles Dodgson way more than I have have if all I ever knew was that he wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Knowing the kind of family he grew up in, his education, how he came to publish the book (which eventually became several books), and how he lived out his life was fascinating. He was just as funny and quirky in person, always sharing fun stories with little kids and that he enjoyed photography.

An interesting man. A fun pairing with Alice's book.

[James Crawford]

This book is, to me, an example of how many books made for 'young' people are actually just as well done and possibly better done than the same topic made for adults. I've read a lot about Lewis Carroll and I find that this book covers virtually all the major points of his life.

It's written in a very readable, not dull, manner. It has a lot of illustrations that are extremely well done. It covers his entire lifetime. If you want to know a whole lot about him and don't want to read multi-hundred page books then this is the one for you.

[Yvonne]

Lewis Carroll is the pen name of Charles L. Dodgson, a mathematician and church deacon, who taught at Oxford University. He was inspired to write his best known works, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, by one of the Dean's daughters, Alice Liddell. What a wonderful story of a man who loved mystery and adventure and children and storytelling.

[Karen]

Another in this great little series of books. I would never have guessed how Alice in Wonderland came to be but this book certainly explains how. As always, the illustrations are very good and simple.
Black and white can convey so much. I highly recommend the books in the "Who was..." series.
They are great for adults and kids alike.

[Amy T.]

I knew basically nothing about Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson) before reading this little book. He was a actually a mathematician and a tinker-er in gadgetry before he wrote of Alice’s Adventures. He reminds me a little of Thomas Jefferson.

[Bryn]

Easy to read, great insight and highlights on author’s life and what was occurring at the same time in history. I wish the inside illustrations were the same quality and style as the cover illustration.

[Dan]

There is a good summary towards the end of the book that says it all about Lewis Carroll, "Those who had been lucky enough to know him would never forget him. He was like no other adult. Some part of him would always belong to children."

[Manon_dem]

For me it's not a bad story, I really loved to know more about Lewis Carroll. So much fun to see the idea of " Alice in wonderland " and the progres about it. I think I love more ALICE IN WONDERLAND now

[Lavender Sparrow]

I absolutely adored this.
Considering this is aimed at children it was surprisingly informative.
I will defiantly be checking out more of these books.

[Caleb]

it was good

[Nathaniel]

i liked it

[Emma]

I have a strong urge to go read Alice in Wonderland.

[Victoria B.]

Not as informative as I would've liked. I felt like it focused too much on the Alice stories and not as much regarding the rest of his life.

[Rachel]

An excellent introduction to the man behind Alice in Wonderland.

[Pumkin pie]

Very interesting. I never did know who wrote Alice In Wonderland! Now I do!

[Erica Flory]

Very interesting. I learned a lot about him

[M]

Good book.

[Abdelrahman Shams]

This’s the favored book I aver read befor ,the riter of that is for sory died in Jan 14,1898 r.s.t for LEWIS CARROLL


Abdelrahman

[Shahd Rdawi]

First one to got the first copy of it from UA public library 🙂

[Katrina Winchell]

I can't get over how great these books are for young readers or experienced readers. I learned things about the author of two of my favorite books that I had never read about before. Very enlightening look into the 'madness' of Lewis Carroll.