One Fun Day with Lewis Carroll: A Celebration of Wordplay and a Girl Named Alice

Krull’s playful biography of Lewis Carroll highlights the many words that Carroll himself coined: “Their burbles of delight would brighten the tulgey wood around them.” Each word is color-coded to indicate the Carroll work it appears in, and there’s a glossary, as well. An unmarried professor of logic and mathematics, Carroll cultivated relationships with the children of his friends, inventing stories for them and taking them on expeditions. As many know, the story of Alice in Wonderland was first told to a girl of that name on a summer rowing outing; Krull includes a longish synopsis, allowing the introduction of yet more Carrollisms. Sardà’s sly set pieces resemble the domestic scenes she created for The Lizsts; they show Carroll and his child friends in Victorian dress, playing hide-and-seek in stuffy drawing rooms and out picnicking. But the Alice in Wonderland sequence gives Sardà more scope—a dazzling spread of Alice chasing the White Rabbit through surreal flowers of scarlet and gold shows that hers is a bold, versatile talent. Ages 6–9. Author’s agent: Susan Cohen, Writers House. Illustrator’s agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House. (Jan.)