Through the Looking Glass

by Jennifer Bassett (Adaptor), Lewis Carroll, John Tenniel (Illustrator)

'I wish I could get through into looking-glass house,' Alice said. 'Let's pretend that the glass has gone soft and... Why, I do believe it has! It's turning into a kind of cloud!' A moment later Alice is inside the looking-glass world. There she finds herself part of a great game of chess, travelling through forests and jumping across brooks. The chess pieces talk and argue with her, give orders and repeat poems... It is the strangest dream that anyone ever had...

Genres: Classics, Childrens, Fantasy, Fiction

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Jennifer Bassett has been a teacher, teacher trainer, editor, and materials writer, and has taught in England, Greece, Spain, and Portugal. She is the Series Editor of the Oxford Bookworms Library, and has written more than twenty original and retold stories for the series, including The Phantom of the Opera, One-Way Ticket, The President's Murderer, and William Shakespeare. Two of her adaptations, Rabbit-Proof Fence and Love Among the Haystacks, have won Language Learner Literature Awards, and three of her other titles have been finalists for the Awards. She has created a new sub-series called Bookworms World Stories, which are collections of short stories written in English from around the world. She has also written original stories for the English Today Readers and Storylines series. Jennifer is series co-adviser, with H.G. Widdowson, of the Oxford Bookworms Collection, volumes of unadapted short stories for advanced learners.

Reviews

[Çetineus · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is no rule in the dream world, where you can fly

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I honestly wonder what Lewis Carroll was smoking when this was written. But man.. once you just accept what is written, it's actually quite an amusing read :)

[Đức Bùi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remembered Alice in the Wonderland is one of the weirdest movies I've watched when I were young, beside Spirited Away. I felt a bit scary and also excited while I was watching the film. Although I can't understand all the details in the film, some of them makes me remember till now. And now I've got a chance to read this retold book about the story of Alice from Lewis Carroll, my childhood emotions and memories came back quickly and beautifully. I can say that this is one of the best Oxford Bookworms book. The picture illustrated for the story is soo elegant and wonderful, and the story is a page-turner, and very delight; the poems is hilarious but very appealing, and I also learn some Alice in the Wonderland's idioms :3. I had a great time reading this book <3

[James Tittle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good and really strange.

[Han · Rating 2 out of 5]

قصة خيالية جدا تضم شخصيات عجيبة وخيالية وأكثر غرابة بل اكثر سيريالية من كتاب أليس في بلاد العجائب الأول
تدخل اليس في عالم اخر من خلال مرآة حيث تقابل شخصيات غريبة ثم تحدد هدفها في البداية بعد التحدث معهم وهو الانتقال الى المربع الثامن فهي الان صارت ضمن لعبة شطرنج وعليها الوصول الى اخر الرقعة لتصبح ملكة علما ان المربعات هي غابات واودية كبيرة وليست مربعات عادية صغيرة وقطعة الحصان مثلا تسير على شكل جيوش وخيول عديدة تسقط وتقوم مثل ساحة معركة. وفي رحلتها هذه تقابل شخصيات مختلفة وتدخل في حوارات معهم.
تقدم القصة مفاهيم مبهرة، لا اعرف حقيقةً إن كانت ظهرت عن هذه القصة وهذا الكاتب؟ أم انها معروفة وتتواجد مرات ولكنها كانت مدهشة مثل إمكانية تذكر الامس والغد ايضآ، عجيب!

نقطة قرأتها سابقًا في (عالم صوفي) والتي تقول أنا نظن اننا الوحيدين هنا كمخلوقات أرضية تعيش على سطح الأرض ولكن حالما نقابل مخلوقات مريخية مثلًا، نحن نعتبر مخلوقات فضائية بالنسبة لهم ايضا، اي ان الموضوع يتفسر في المنظور. وفي قصة آليس التي قابلت المعزة او الاسد او اليونيكورن وهي شخصيات غريبة بالنسبة لها فكيف لهذه الشخصيات ان تتحدث وتفكر وتتحرك؟ وبالمقابل تجد هذه الشخصيات اليس على انها شخص غريب ودخيل عليهم بدورها، أي اننا لسنا وحدنا :)

لا اعتبرها نقطة سلبية اكثر من انها فهم خاطىء تكمن في ان الخيال مشابه للفلسفة بالنسبة لي، فقد احتجت الى تركيز وتفهم للكلمات، وكثير من الوقت للتخيل، ومتى ما احسست ان طاقتي على التخيل نفذت تركت الكتاب قليلا واسترحت (شيء جديد اكتشفه عن نفسي).

وتمنيت ان اعرف اكثر عن المباراة كيف سارت وماهي الحركات الاولى فمباراة الشطرنج هذه غير مكتملة او انها عامل غير مهم في القصة، وكلها تتمحور حول رحلة سعي آليس والوصول الى المربع الثامن وبالتالي تصبح ملكة، لكن كيف لها ان تصبح ملكة ثالثة إضافة الى الملكة البيضاء والحمراء؟ لا أعرف

شخصيات اكثر غرابة من الكتاب الاول لا تفسير لها او حتى ابعاد وليست مؤثرة او ذات وقع وخلفية مثل شخصيات الكتاب الأول، أردت ان اعرف اكثر عن الملكة الحمراء والبيضاء، ومين أتى الاسد واليونيكورن!! ٠_٠

يستمر الكتاب في جعلك تركض وتركض وتدور وكأنك في نفس الحلقة من دون ان تعرف مالذي يحدث حقا؟

[Polotar Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I still don't really know, what to say about this story. I've read it before (in hungarian), and I remember, that I felt the same. It's a very strange and weird story, and it was confusing. I don't feel anything about this book, and I don't know what else I can say. I definetely got the mood to reread the full version of this in hungarian, I hope I will like it more that way.

[Millie Muroi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gifted for the plane ride by a generous neighbour who also happens to be a phenomenal journalist. Thanks Jan! :)

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

AUDIBLE BOOK
Classic tale.
Very amusing book
This is the sequel to Alice in Wonderland

[Poushali Chatterjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was fun!!

[Trung Hiếu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Khả năng đọc thì dễ mà khả năng hiểu thì chả ra mô tê gì hết á.
Nội dung cứ lung tung cả, hay phải chăng mình lớn rồi @@

[Nanae Sugimoto · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. Oxford level 3
2. 12/6-30 12/7-30 12/9-30 minutes
3. Black cat, Alice, Red Queen, squares, looking-glass, hill, tickets
4. When I saw the book cover, I realized Alice in this book. I didn't know there is a sequel to Alice in wonderland. I've not finished this book yet.
5. There are several scenes about chess but unfortunately, I don't know rules of chess. If I knew it, I could understand easily. That's why I read it more slowly than usual. I want to know why the black cat is written in Italics. I wish there was an answer in this book.


Rewrite the review:

1. Oxford level 3
2. 12/6-30 12/7-30 12/9-30 minutes 12/11-20 12/14-50 12/15-25minutes.
3. Alice, Queens, Kings, knights, Humpty Dumpty, Poems, black cat
4. It took almost 3 hours because I don't know the rules of chess and I couldn't understand many poems. While I was reading this book, I noticed I didn't need to understand all of poems and rules, so I sometimes skipped these things.
5. I like this book but it was a little bit difficult. I didn't know there were sequel of Alice in wonderland. Actually I forgot story of wonderland so I felt strange the author, Carroll's world. I want to see this movie to understand more clearly.

[Anri · Rating 4 out of 5]

-OXFORD, level 3.

-Time: 11/13 = 40 minutes; 11/14 = 70 minutes

-7-word summary: chess - kitten - white - red - Tweedledee/dum - queen - introduce

-Discussion questions:
1. Tweedledee and dum said Alice was only a kind of thing in king's dream, but Alice didn't believe. Do you think we can distinguish accurately dream and reality?
-No, because when we are dreaming, we think its world is actual. There is no way to proof what is reality.

2. Do you want to go to the wonderland in the looking-glass?
-No. There are many funny things and people, but they are too crazy to have fun. I will want to come back to the original world soon.

[Erika Saito · Rating 4 out of 5]

-Oxford university press. Level3
-Time: 12/4=85min
-7words summary: Slice, glass, into, character, great, talk, dream
-Discussion questions:
1.If you we're Alice, and you can enter the glass house, what do you want to do?
I want get along with a lot of character like Alice. Actually, it's not reality, but it is wonderful life.
2.Have you ever had such as the dreaming?
No, I haven't. However, I had a experience that I had talked with cat in my dream.

This story was difficult for me, but the contents was really interesting. The last sentence, "who do you think was dreaming, let me think very much!

[Miyu Kojima · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. Oxford, level 3
2. 5/27=120 min.
3. black kitten, Alice, Red Queen, looking-glass, King, Humpty Dumpty, dreaming
4. a: I most stop all this.
b: Alice tries to stop this strange story at this time. She is dreaming and she finds people who started all this trouble. It is very long adventure for her, I think.
5. Alice meets some people and animals through a looking-glass. However, they are very strange same as "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", so Alice does not know what she should do each time. If I were in her place, I think I cannot act bravely like her. But, everyone can speak including animals and flowers there. I think that is the only help if I went to the world.

[Takuya Kitaura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oxford level3
Time 5/18 40 minutes 5/19 25 minutes
7 word summary Alice-through-glass-world-chess-give-orders
Discussion question
Q, In this story, Alice met many imaginary character such as Humpty Dumpty from Mother Goose.
If you can meet some characters, what character do you want to meet?
A. Hmmm, I want to meet oswald. I like him very much. Do you know him? He was a Disney character. Now, however, main Disney character is Mickey!

I like this story very much. I was able to enjoy reading when I was relaxed. Especially I like imaginary
characters! I want to read this book again.

[Misaki Kawakata · Rating 3 out of 5]

1 OXFORD level3
2 130min
3 glass
cat
queen
red
chess
knight
garden
4 Would you help me? I'm being chased bt Red Queen! - No! I can't help you. If I do so and find it her, I'll be killed by her!
5 The story is difficult to understand for me. I couldn't understand what happend in the story and why the things are happened. That is a fantasy story. There are many strange characters. I enjoyed reading to show up new characters. If I have a time, I want to read the book again. If I do so maybe I can understand the story more and enjoy!

[Samar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know why critics assume the sequel to Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland to be contrived, lacking the spontaneity of the first book. Somehow I found this novel even more satisfying and absurdly satirical. The Jabberwocky poem was a treat and its analysis by Humpty-Dumpty only added to the genuine hilarity. The idea of chess pieces and queens incorporated within Wonderland was highly intriguing although yes a little less subtle than the satire in the first book. I missed the caterpillar and his hookah this time around. Though Tweedledum and Tweedledee made up for it.

[ゆきてぃ · Rating 4 out of 5]

OXFORD level3
12/15-70min. 12/18-40min.
Seven word summary / glass, throgh, chess, world,dream, many characters, kitten
Q Do you want to get through into the glass house?
A No! When I was a child, I was afraid of glasses. So I don't like them and I don't wan to get through into the glass house.

I like Alice of disney character, so I read this book. It was little difficult for me to understand this book, but I was able to enjoy it.

[Naomi Mori · Rating 4 out of 5]

1Oxford, level3
26/21=90minutes
3 kitten, chess, looking glass, red queen, white queen, humpty dumpty, dreaming
4a.who do you think was dreaming?
b.Alice'dream or other's, answer is not written, so I want to know which one's.
5This is a continuation of Alice in wonder land.It was very strange story, so sometimes it was a little difficult to understand. However, I was attracted this world.