Timeline
49 chapters
BOOK 1Alice in Wonderland (Illustrated) (Fairy eBooks)
CHAPTER 1
Chapter I. Down the Rabbit-Hole
Alice, bored by the riverbank, chases a talking White Rabbit down a deep well into a strange hall lined with locked doors. After drinking from a bottle labeled "DRINK ME," she shrinks to ten inches tall, but forgets the golden key needed to enter the beautiful garden beyond the tiny door. Frustrated and tearful, she eats a cake marked "EAT ME" to try to change her size again.
CHAPTER 2
Chapter II. The Pool of Tears
Alice grows enormously tall, then shrinks rapidly after fanning herself with the White Rabbit's fan, leaving her stranded outside the locked garden door. She cries a pool of tears, then swims in it alongside the White Rabbit, a Mouse, and other creatures after accidentally offending the Mouse by mentioning her cat Dinah. The chapter captures Alice's emotional volatility—oscillating between wonder, frustration, loneliness, and desperate attempts to understand her changing identity—as she navigates the increasingly absurd logic of Wonderland.
CHAPTER 3
Chapter III. A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale
After the chaotic swim, Alice and the bedraggled animals gather on the bank, where the Mouse attempts to dry them with a dry history lesson that quickly devolves into interruptions and confusion. The Dodo proposes a Caucus-race with no rules, resulting in everyone winning and Alice distributing comfits and her thimble as prizes. The gathering dissolves when Alice mentions her cat Dinah, leaving her alone and tearful as the Mouse storms off and the others flee.
CHAPTER 4
Chapter IV. The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill
Alice, still tiny, is mistaken for the White Rabbit's housemaid and sent to fetch his gloves and fan. Inside his house she drinks from an unlabeled bottle and grows so large she fills the room, trapping herself. The Rabbit and his animal helpers try to evict her; she kicks Bill the lizard up the chimney, then eats a pebble-turned-cake to shrink and escapes into the woods, where she encounters a giant puppy and finally meets a smoking Caterpillar atop a mushroom.
CHAPTER 5
Chapter V. Advice from a Caterpillar
Alice encounters a languid Caterpillar atop a mushroom who repeatedly challenges her identity and sense of self. Through their circular conversation, Alice struggles to explain her size changes and recites a distorted poem, leading the Caterpillar to reveal that one side of the mushroom makes her grow taller and the other shorter. After the Caterpillar departs, Alice experiments with the mushroom pieces, endures a bizarre encounter with a protective Pigeon who mistakes her for a serpent, and finally regains her normal height before approaching a mysterious little house.
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CHAPTER 6
Chapter VI. Pig and Pepper
Alice encounters two liveried footmen delivering a croquet invitation from the Queen to the Duchess, then enters a chaotic kitchen filled with smoke and flying cookware where the Duchess sings a violent lullaby while nursing a baby. After the Duchess departs, Alice discovers the baby has transformed into a pig and releases it into the woods. She then meets the grinning Cheshire Cat, who directs her toward the March Hare's house while philosophizing about madness before vanishing piece by piece.
CHAPTER 7
Chapter VII. A Mad Tea-Party
Alice joins the Mad Hatter, March Hare, and sleeping Dormouse at their chaotic tea party, where nonsensical conversation and riddles dominate. The Hatter reveals his eternal six o'clock tea-time stems from offending the Queen of Hearts, and the group moves seats when cups are used. Alice grows frustrated with their rudeness and leaves, discovering a tree-door that leads her back to the hall and finally into the beautiful garden.
CHAPTER 8
Chapter VIII. The Queen’s Croquet-Ground
Alice encounters three gardeners frantically painting white roses red to avoid the Queen of Hearts' wrath. When the royal procession arrives, Alice boldly stands her ground as the Queen threatens executions, including the gardeners whom Alice hides. The chaotic croquet game with living hedgehogs and flamingos descends into confusion, interrupted by the Cheshire Cat's disembodied grin, which sparks a dispute over beheading that remains unresolved as the Cat vanishes.
CHAPTER 9
Chapter IX. The Mock Turtle’s Story
Alice walks with the Duchess, who repeatedly finds morals in everything and makes Alice uncomfortable with her sharp chin and peppery temper. The Queen appears, threatens the Duchess with execution, and takes Alice back to the chaotic croquet game where she orders constant beheadings. The Queen then sends Alice with the Gryphon to meet the Mock Turtle, who begins recounting his melancholy school days in the sea.
CHAPTER 10
Chapter X. The Lobster Quadrille
Alice listens as the Mock Turtle and Gryphon describe the Lobster Quadrille, a dance involving lobsters, turtles, and seals that ends with throwing partners out to sea. The creatures perform a demonstration without lobsters, singing songs about whiting, soles, and beautiful soup while Alice recites distorted verses. The chapter ends when they hear a cry about a trial beginning and rush off, leaving Alice running with the Gryphon.
CHAPTER 11
Chapter XI. Who Stole the Tarts?
Alice attends the trial of the Knave of Hearts in the court of the King and Queen, where the jurors record their names and the Hatter testifies incoherently about the stolen tarts. Alice begins growing larger during the proceedings, causing discomfort to those around her, while the Queen orders the suppression of guinea-pigs and the removal of the Dormouse. The chapter ends with the White Rabbit calling Alice as the next witness.
CHAPTER 12
Chapter XII. Alice’s evidence
Alice's size grows uncontrollably during the trial, causing chaos as she upsets the jury-box and scatters the jurors. The King attempts to enforce Rule Forty-two to remove her from court, but Alice defies the authority. When the Queen demands sentence before verdict, Alice rejects the entire proceedings as absurd, declares the court a pack of cards, and awakens from her dream on the riverbank with her sister.
BOOK 1Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
CHAPTER 1
I: Down the Rabbit-Hole
Bored beside her sister on a riverbank, Alice chases a waistcoat-wearing White Rabbit and tumbles down a deep well into a strange underground world. In a lamp-lit hall, she discovers a tiny door opening onto a beautiful garden, then drinks a bottle that shrinks her—only to find she cannot reach the key; her curiosity and resourcefulness are threaded with bewilderment and frustration as she tries another transformation with a marked cake.
CHAPTER 2
II: The Pool of Tears
Growing first to more than nine feet and then shrinking to two, Alice struggles to reach the garden door and wrestles with the unsettling question of who she is. Her tears become a pool in the hall, where she falls in and meets a Mouse; after repeatedly offending it by mentioning cats and dogs, she joins it and a gathering of animals as they swim toward shore. The chapter’s playful absurdity is threaded with loneliness, confusion, and Alice’s growing need for companionship.
CHAPTER 3
III: A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale
On the riverbank, still soaked from the pool of tears, Alice joins a strange gathering of birds and animals as they attempt to dry themselves. A nonsensical race ends with everyone declared a winner, and Alice awards comfits and a thimble; afterward, her misunderstanding of the Mouse’s sad tale drives it away, while her cheerful praise of her cat Dinah frightens the other creatures off. Left alone and lonely, Alice begins to cry again, then looks up at the sound of approaching footsteps.
CHAPTER 4
IV: The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill
Mistaken for the Rabbit’s housemaid, Alice enters his home and drinks from a bottle that makes her grow until she is wedged inside the tiny room. As the Rabbit and his servants struggle to remove her, Alice kicks Bill from the chimney, escapes by shrinking with a pebble-turned-cake, and flees into the wood. There she narrowly avoids an enormous playful puppy before encountering a hookah-smoking Caterpillar atop a mushroom; her bewilderment and fear mingle with curiosity about this strange world.
CHAPTER 5
V: Advice from a Caterpillar
In a strange wood, Alice debates identity and change with a languid Caterpillar, recites a distorted poem, and receives a piece of mushroom that can alter her size. Growing enormous, she is mistaken for a serpent by a nest-guarding Pigeon; nibbling the mushroom brings her back to her usual height. Still bewildered but more resourceful, Alice finds a tiny house and shrinks herself to nine inches before approaching it.
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CHAPTER 6
VI: Pig and Pepper
Outside the Duchess’s house, Alice witnesses two absurd footmen exchange the Queen’s croquet invitation, then enters a smoke-filled kitchen where pepper, flying cookware, and the Duchess’s violent treatment of her baby create chaos. Alice carries the baby outside, where it transforms into a pig; afterward, she meets the grinning Cheshire Cat, whose riddling advice points her onward. Leaving the woods behind, Alice approaches the March Hare’s strange house, still curious but wary of the madness around her.
CHAPTER 7
VII: A Mad Tea-Party
Alice joins the March Hare, Hatter, and sleepy Dormouse for an absurd, endless tea-party, where riddles, broken time, and a nonsensical story frustrate her patience. Fed up with their rudeness, she leaves and discovers a door in a tree; using the key and a saved piece of mushroom, she returns to her former size and enters the garden. The chapter’s playful disorientation gives way to Alice’s renewed resolve and delight.
CHAPTER 8
VIII: The Queen’s Croquet-Ground
In the Queen of Hearts’ garden, Alice encounters playing-card gardeners secretly painting white roses red, then defies the Queen’s threats and protects them from execution. Swept into a chaotic croquet game played with living creatures and shifting soldiers, Alice grows more confident even as the Queen’s arbitrary violence unsettles her. The Cheshire Cat’s appearance sparks a dispute over whether it can be executed without a body, leaving the royal court in confusion as its head vanishes.
CHAPTER 9
IX: The Mock Turtle’s Story
Alice walks with the newly agreeable Duchess, whose relentless moralizing and sharp chin are cut short when the Queen appears and threatens her; the Duchess flees, and Alice returns to the croquet-ground amid the Queen’s chaotic threats and mass arrests. The Queen sends Alice with the Gryphon to meet the tearful Mock Turtle, who begins recounting his underwater schooling through comic wordplay and absurd lessons. The chapter shifts from tense courtly menace to a melancholy, playful conversation, with Alice curious but repeatedly chastened by her companions.
CHAPTER 10
X: The Lobster Quadrille
The Mock Turtle and Gryphon describe the absurd Lobster Quadrille, then dance around Alice while the Turtle sings; their comic lessons about sea creatures and wordplay turn into a recital in which Alice’s verses emerge jumbled by the dance. When the Mock Turtle begins a mournful song about beautiful soup, news that a trial is beginning sends the trio hurrying away, leaving its refrain fading behind them. The chapter’s playful nonsense carries a wistful undertone, while Alice shifts from timid audience to reluctant performer before being swept into a new adventure.
CHAPTER 11
XI: Who Stole the Tarts?
At the King and Queen of Hearts’ chaotic trial, Alice watches the jurors scribble nonsense and the witnesses—a nervous Hatter and a pepper-wielding cook—offer little useful evidence about the stolen tarts. As the court descends into absurdity, Alice begins growing again, while the Queen’s threats and the King’s muddled questioning make the proceedings both comic and menacing. The chapter ends with Alice startled to hear her own name called as the next witness.
CHAPTER 12
XII: Alice’s Evidence
In the court, Alice’s growing confidence exposes the King and Queen’s absurd, unjust proceedings: she challenges their rules, dismisses the nonsensical evidence, and refuses to be intimidated. When the court turns into a flying pack of cards, she wakes beside her sister on the riverbank, and the setting shifts from Wonderland to a quiet summer afternoon. As Alice runs off, her sister imagines the child grown, still carrying her loving heart and the power to pass wonder on to others.
BOOK 2Through The Looking Glass
CHAPTER 1
Charles Lutwige Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)
This material is not a narrative chapter but a collection of front matter: the contents page, a biographical sketch of Lewis Carroll, and contemporary reflections on his character and literary legacy. It presents Carroll as a shy, eccentric, deeply imaginative man whose affection for children shaped the Alice books, and celebrates their enduring blend of poetic imagery, intellectual play, and nonsense humor.
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER I. Looking-Glass house
While playing with her kittens beside the looking-glass, Alice imagines a world beyond it and discovers that the glass has become a passage. In the mirrored room she encounters living chess pieces, helps the White Queen and King, and tries to decipher a strange book, before floating downstairs to explore further. The chapter’s playful, curious mood turns wonder into adventure as Alice crosses from familiar domestic comfort into a topsy-turvy world.
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER II. The Garden of Live Flowers
Alice struggles to reach the hill through a path that keeps returning her to the house, then discovers a garden of talking flowers who tease her and announce the Red Queen’s arrival. The Queen leads Alice across a chessboard-like landscape, explains that Alice is a White Pawn beginning in the Second Square, and demonstrates the strange rule that running only keeps them in place. After giving Alice a preview of the squares ahead, the Queen vanishes, leaving Alice to remember her role and prepare to move onward.
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER III. Looking-Glass Insects
Alice surveys the strange chessboard world, then finds herself aboard a crowded train where curious passengers scold and advise her before the carriage leaps a brook. Beneath a tree, she speaks with the melancholy Gnat and encounters fantastical insects; entering a nameless wood, she loses her own name but regains it while traveling with a Fawn, who flees once they remember what they are. Still pursuing the Eighth Square, Alice follows contradictory signposts and suddenly meets Tweedledum and Tweedledee, amid an atmosphere of playful absurdity and growing uncertainty.
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER IV. Tweedledum And Tweedledee
In a darkening wood, Alice meets the quarrelsome brothers Tweedledum and Tweedledee, dances with them, and listens to their poem about the Walrus and the Carpenter. They unsettle her by insisting she exists only in the sleeping Red King’s dream, then discover Tweedledum’s broken new rattle and prepare for a battle, dressing in makeshift armor. As a monstrous crow swoops through the storm-dark forest, the brothers flee, leaving Alice beneath a tree; the chapter shifts from playful absurdity to unease and looming danger.
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CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER VI. Humpty Dumpty
In the wood, Alice helps the frantic White Queen dress and hears how her backwards life makes memory, punishment, and even jam behave strangely; the Queen’s shawl, Alice’s loneliness, and a sudden transformation carry Alice into a dark shop. There she drifts by boat with the knitting Sheep, then follows an elusive egg into the forest and meets Humpty Dumpty atop a wall, whose wordplay, explanations of “Jabberwocky,” and abrupt dismissal leave Alice bemused before a crash shakes the woods.
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER VII. The Lion and the Unicorn
Alice emerges from a chaotic forest of stumbling soldiers and meets the White King and his messenger Haigha, whose absurd exchanges lead them toward a battle between the Lion and the Unicorn. The fighters pause for refreshments, and Alice befriends the Unicorn while observing the King’s nervousness and the strange, playful rules of Looking-glass life. When drums erupt and overwhelm the gathering, Alice flees across a brook and covers her ears, ending the chapter in comic confusion.
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER VIII. 'It's my own Invention'
After the Red and White Knights fight over Alice, the White Knight escorts her through the wood, entertaining her with eccentric inventions, repeated tumbles, and a melancholy nonsense song. Their gentle, comic farewell at sunset gives way to Alice crossing the final brook into the Eighth Square, where she discovers a golden crown on her head and realizes she is a Queen.
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER IX. Queen Alice
Newly crowned Queen Alice is subjected to the Red and White Queens’ absurd examination, then finds herself swept into a chaotic dinner where food talks, etiquette turns topsy-turvy, and the guests behave wildly. As the feast erupts into magical disorder, Alice’s uncertainty gives way to impatience and defiance: she overturns the table and grabs the shrunken Red Queen, while the setting shifts from a quiet grassy scene to the Queen Alice hall. The chapter’s playful, bewildering tone turns increasingly frantic.
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER X. Shaking
Alice lifts the Red Queen from the table and shakes her vigorously. The Queen offers no resistance, instead shrinking and growing rounder and softer as her face and eyes transform, giving the brief scene a strange, dreamlike, playful tone.
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER XII. Which Dreamed it?
Awakening beside her kittens, Alice tries to determine whether they appeared in her Looking-Glass dream, matching the Red Queen to the Red Kitten and wondering if the Red King dreamed her—or she dreamed him. Her playful, affectionate questions give way to the chapter’s lyrical closing poem, which frames the adventure as a fading summer dream and a cherished memory shared with children.
BOOK 2Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There
CHAPTER 1
Introduction by Chris Riddell
Chris Riddell reflects on the contrasting appeal of *Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland* and *Through the Looking-Glass*, comparing their worlds, characters, and reversed logic. He celebrates the latter’s poems—especially “The Walrus and the Carpenter” and “Jabberwocky”—and explains how Carroll’s imaginative language has shaped his own work as a political cartoonist. The tone is playful and affectionate, ending with Riddell choosing the looking-glass world as his favorite.
CHAPTER 2
1. Looking-Glass House
While reprimanding and playing with her kitten, Alice imagines the world behind the looking-glass and discovers that its surface has become a passage. In the strange mirrored room, she encounters living chess pieces, helps the White Queen and King, and reads the puzzling poem “Jabberwocky”; curious and buoyant, she then floats down the stairs to explore the garden.
CHAPTER 3
2. The Garden of Live Flowers
Alice struggles to reach the hill through a path that repeatedly carries her back to the house, then discovers a garden of talking flowers whose teasing introduces her to the Red Queen. The Queen leads Alice across the chessboard-like country in a breathless run that leaves them where they began, explains that Alice is a pawn moving toward becoming a queen, and disappears after giving her instructions. The chapter’s playful, bewildering landscape mirrors Alice’s growing curiosity and her uneasy adjustment to a world governed by strange rules.
CHAPTER 4
3. Looking-Glass Insects
Alice surveys the strange landscape, then finds herself aboard a train whose talking passengers mock and confuse her before a leap over a brook leaves her beneath a tree with the melancholy Gnat. As they discuss fantastical insects and the possibility of losing her name, the Gnat vanishes; Alice enters a nameless wood, forgets who she is, and regains her name while traveling with a Fawn that flees upon recognizing her as human. Still determined to reach the Eighth Square, she follows the baffling signs toward Tweedledum’s and Tweedledee’s house, ending with an unexpected encounter.
CHAPTER 5
4. Tweedledum and Tweedledee
In the darkening wood, Alice meets the solemnly absurd Tweedle brothers, dances with them, and listens to their poem about the Walrus and the Carpenter. Their claim that she exists only in the Red King’s dream unsettles her, but she brushes away her tears and turns back toward finding her way out. When Tweedledum discovers his broken rattle, the brothers prepare for a battle—until a huge black crow sweeps toward them, sending them fleeing as Alice takes shelter among the trees.
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CHAPTER 6
5. Wool and Water
Alice helps the disheveled White Queen dress and learns that in her backward-moving world, events and memories unfold in reverse; their conversation veers from comic confusion to the Queen’s shrieks and Alice’s loneliness. As the Queen chases her shawl, the wood gives way to a dark shop where an old Sheep knits and sells curious goods, and Alice is swept into a boat ride before returning to the shop to buy an egg. The chapter’s playful, dreamlike transformations mingle wonder with frustration as Alice discovers a world where things evade her grasp and even the setting shifts around her.
CHAPTER 7
6. Humpty Dumpty
In a strange forest, Alice finds Humpty Dumpty perched precariously on a narrow wall and endures his insults, riddles, and arguments about names and the meaning of words. Their conversation shifts from his promised royal rescue and un-birthday arithmetic to his fanciful explanations of “Jabberwocky” and an unfinished poem; when Humpty dismisses her, Alice walks away, only for a sudden crash to shake the forest.
CHAPTER 8
7. The Lion and the Unicorn
Alice emerges from a chaotic forest of stumbling soldiers and meets the White King, whose absurd exchange with the breathless Messenger Haigha leads them toward the town. There she watches the Lion and the Unicorn fight over the King’s crown, pause for refreshments, and trade comic insults; Alice’s encounter with the Unicorn turns mutual disbelief into a playful bargain of belief. The chapter’s shifting spectacle—from forest to battlefield—keeps its whimsical, topsy-turvy humor, until the drums erupt and Alice flees the deafening noise.
CHAPTER 9
8. ‘It’s My Own Invention’
After the vanished battle, Alice is caught between the Red and White Knights, whose absurd combat ends with the Red Knight riding away and the gentle, hapless White Knight escorting her through the wood. His inventions, endless tumbles, and melancholy song turn the journey into a comic, dreamlike farewell; as the sun gilds the scene, Alice watches him disappear, then crosses the final brook into the Eighth Square and discovers a crown on her head. The mood shifts from bewilderment and playful absurdity to tender sadness, then to delighted anticipation as Alice becomes a Queen.
CHAPTER 10
9. Queen Alice
Newly crowned Alice is subjected to the Queens’ absurd examination, then finds herself ushered into a chaotic feast where talking food, unruly guests, and impossible rules overwhelm her. As the dinner dissolves into flying tableware and vanishing Queens, Alice’s frustration turns to decisive action: she overturns the table and confronts the shrunken Red Queen.
CHAPTER 11
12. Which Dreamed It?
Awakening from her looking-glass dream, Alice playfully addresses her kittens as the Red and White Queens, imagining the dream’s characters in their familiar forms. She wonders whether she or the Red King dreamed the other, then the closing poem recalls the childhood boat trip that inspired the tale and reflects on memory, time, and life as a dream.
CHAPTER 12
Read On
This supplementary chapter shifts from Alice’s Looking-glass adventure to an illustrated guide to Lewis Carroll, the story’s characters, and the chess ideas behind its world. It offers historical context, discussion questions, creative activities, a recipe, chess facts, and a glossary, maintaining a playful, inviting tone that encourages readers to explore and imagine beyond the story.
CHAPTER 13
Read More
Dorothy and her companions press toward the Emerald City, crossing a forest where the Cowardly Lion carries them over a gulf and the group outwits two fearsome Kalidahs by dropping their bridge. Emerging into a sunny landscape, they build a raft to cross a swift river, but the current sweeps them away from the yellow-brick road and leaves the Scarecrow stranded midstream; the Lion swims the others to shore. Their resourcefulness and loyalty sustain them through danger, though the journey grows uncertain as they find themselves far from their path.
CHAPTER 14
The Story of Puffin
Puffin celebrates its long history, tracing its roots to Allen Lane’s invention of the quality paperback in 1935 and the growth of children’s books that followed. From the first Puffin Picture Books and the debut of Worzel Gummidge to Kaye Webb’s Puffin Club, the chapter warmly honors generations of young readers and promises that there is a Puffin for everyone.
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