Mad Hatter Tea

Try reading Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass (1871) before the Tim Burton 3D version with Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, and Helen Bonham Carter comes out in early March. You might need a frame of reference to Burton’s surreal characterizations.

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (pseudonym-Lewis Carroll) – ordained as a deacon – fluent in Latin, graduated with distinction from Oxford, and lectured in math. Although he wrote mathematical treatises for academia under his real name, Lewis Carroll created an Alice who could not get to 20 in her multiplication tables.

Alice’s Adventures began as an oral tale told to little girls who were bored on an outing. You might try reading some of it aloud to sense the rhythm of Carroll’s wording. With all the skill of a logician, Carroll weaves a tale that seems to be superficially nonsensical and can be enjoyed as a series of comic vignettes told to children.

Or you might find problem-solving scenarios that can teach…If everybody minded their own business, the Duchess said in a hoarse growl, the world would go round a deal faster than it does..

Get reacquainted with the clash of the Queens, the wisdom of the walrus, and the helpfulness of the hookah-smoking caterpillar.   Any cat lover will relate to the mischievous grin of the Cheshire Cat.

And just think of all those famous quotes…Every thing’s got a moral – if you only you can find it…