Alice Is Everywhere

O frabjous day! The Alice Is Everywhere podcast is finally here!

What will we cover on our ALL Alice in Wonderland podcast? Why, I’m glad you asked! Here’s the official description:

“Tune in to our Alice in Wonderland podcast for lighthearted commentary and analysis of the books Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Learn all about the author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson AKA Lewis Carroll, and the REAL Alice, Alice Liddell. We’ll also discuss Alice in Wonderland movies, tv shows and theater, and Alice’s influence on literature, fashion and popular culture. Pour a cup of tea, help yourself to the bread-and-butter and leave your logic at the door. We’re all mad here.”

The title of Episode 1 may sound a little familiar. That’s because the first twelve episodes of our Alice in Wonderland podcast will be yours truly reading a chapter from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and then giving you all kinds of commentary and fun facts so that you enjoy the book even more! For every episode, the accompanying web post will include an Episode Summary, Vocabulary Words For Young Listeners (words either from the book or spoken off the cuff by me), the original John Tenniel Alice illustrations, and the full text of the chapter as written by Lewis Carroll, so that you can follow along! You know, if you are not listening while driving or at a Zumba class or something.

Episode Summary

A little girl named Alice follows a White Rabbit down a rabbit hole and begins amazing adventures in the first chapter of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Down The Rabbit-Hole. Full text of the chapter by Lewis Carroll is included, along with commentary and Alice in Wonderland fun facts. Suitable for all ages.

Vocabulary Words For Young Listeners

sartorial – adj – related to clothing or fashion Rerun from What’s Happening has always been my sartorial role model.

proliferation – noun – a large number of something, or a rapid increase in something The proliferation of Kardashians in recent decades has scientists alarmed.

Chapter 1 Quotable Quotes

“...what is the use of a book...without pictures or conversations?” – Alice

“DRINK ME” – bottle

“EAT ME” – very small cake

Chapter 1 Illustrations By John Tenniel

Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!

On the second time round, she came upon a low curtain she had not noticed before...

Self-explanatory.

Chapter 1 Down the Rabbit-Hole By Lewis Carroll

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, ‘and what is the use of a book,’ thought Alice ‘without pictures or conversations?’

So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.

There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, ‘Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!’ (when she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.

In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.

The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well.

Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything; then she looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with cupboards and book-shelves; here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs. She took down a jar from one of the shelves as she passed; it was labelled ‘ORANGE MARMALADE’, but to her great disappointment it was empty: she did not like to drop the jar for fear of killing somebody, so...

Chapter 8 – “It’s My Own Invention”

Episode Summary

Alice is escorted through the seventh square of the chessboard that is Looking-Glass Land in Chapter 8 of Through The Looking Glass entitled “It’s My Own Invention.” Those quotation marks are totally intentional, someone says “It’s My Own Invention!” Repeatedly! Learn all about The White Knight! Does he really represent our favorite Oxford don? Plus, we discuss the surprising number of Lewis Carroll discoveries unearthed in the late 20th century, including the identity of The White Knight.

Vocabulary Words For Young Listeners

deal box- noun – a little Victorian wood box – I keep coupons in my deal box, isn’t that a hoot?!

sugar-loaf – noun – Victorian sugar sold in conical shapes. or, without the hyphen, the band that sang Green-Eyed Lady – Did you buy tickets to Sugarloaf, without the hyphen ?

Chapter 8 Quotable Quotes

“It’s my own invention.” – The White Knight

Chapter 8 Illustrations By John Tenniel

Like Punch and Judy, indeed!

He’s not a skilled...rider.

“How CAN you go on talking so quietly, head downwards?”

One shouldn’t really shake one’s elders from side to side like that...

Queen Alice!

Chapter 8 “It’s My Own Invention” by Lewis Carroll

After a while the noise seemed gradually to die away, till all was dead silence, and Alice lifted up her head in some alarm. There was no one to be seen, and her first thought was that she must have been dreaming about the Lion and the Unicorn and those queer Anglo-Saxon Messengers. However, there was the great dish still lying at her feet, on which she had tried to cut the plum-cake, ‘So I wasn’t dreaming, after all,’ she said to herself, ‘unless—unless we’re all part of the same dream. Only I do hope it’s my dream, and not the Red King’s! I don’t like belonging to another person’s dream,’ she went on in a rather complaining tone: ‘I’ve a great mind to go and wake him, and see what happens!’

At this moment her thoughts were interrupted by a loud shouting of ‘Ahoy! Ahoy! Check!’ and a Knight dressed in crimson armour came galloping down upon her, brandishing a great club. Just as he reached her, the horse stopped suddenly: ‘You’re my prisoner!’ the Knight cried, as he tumbled off his horse.

Startled as she was, Alice was more frightened for him than for herself at the moment, and watched him with some anxiety as he mounted again. As soon as he was comfortably in the saddle, he began once more ‘You’re my—’ but here another voice broke in ‘Ahoy! Ahoy! Check!’ and Alice looked round in some surprise for the new enemy.

This time it was a White Knight. He drew up at Alice’s side, and tumbled off his horse just as the Red Knight had done: then he got on again, and the two Knights sat and looked at each other for some time without speaking. Alice looked from one to the other in some bewilderment.

‘She’s my prisoner, you know!’ the Red Knight said at last.

‘Yes, but then I came and rescued her!’ the White Knight replied.

‘Well, we must fight for her, then,’ said the Red Knight, as he took up his helmet (which hung from the saddle, and was something the shape of a horse’s head), and put it on.

‘You will observe the Rules of Battle, of course?’ the White Knight remarked, putting on his helmet too.

‘I always do,’ said the Red Knight, and they began banging away at each other with such fury that Alice got behind a tree to be out of the way of the blows.

‘I wonder, now, what the Rules of Battle are,’ she said to herself, as she watched the fight, timidly peeping out from her hiding-place: ‘one Rule seems to be, that if one Knight hits the other, he knocks him off his horse, and if he misses, he tumbles off himself—and another Rule seems to be that they hold their clubs with their arms, as if they were Punch and Judy—What a noise they make when they tumble! Just like a whole set of fire-irons falling into the fender! And how quiet the horses are! They let them get on and off them just as if they were tables!’

Another Rule of Battle, that Alice had not noticed, seemed to be that they always fell on their heads, and the battle ended with their both falling off in this way, side by side: when they got up again, they shook hands, and then the Red Knight mounted and galloped off.

‘It was a glorious victory, wasn’t it?’ said the White Knight, as he came up panting.

‘I don’t know,’ Alice said doubtfully. ‘I don’t want to be anybody’s prisoner. I want to be a Queen.’

‘So you will, when you’ve crossed the next brook,’ said the White Knight. ‘I’ll see you safe to the end of the wood—and then I must go back, you know. That’s the end of my move.’

‘Thank you very much,’ said Alice. ‘May I help you off with your helmet?’ It was evidently more t...

Chapter 5 – Wool And Water

Episode Summary

Alice takes a rowboat out for a spin in Chapter 5 of Through The Looking Glass entitled Wool And Water. The White Queen is her boating companion, or is it a sheep?! Learn who actually said that famous quote about believing in six impossible things before breakfast, and visit a store where everything remains just out of reach. Plus, we talk more about John Lennon and his connection to Through The Looking-Glass, despite his always referring to it as Alice In Wonderland.

Vocabulary Words For Young Listeners

plaintive – adjective – very sad and sorrowful – “Cooooooooookiiieeeee !” the man cried in a plaintive tone.

teetotum – noun – a small spinning top – Back in my day, children were happy to play with a teetotum all day. There was none of this “electricity.”

Chapter 5 Quotable Quotes

“The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday- but never jam to-day.” – The White Queen

“It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards.” – The White Queen

“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” – The White Queen

Chapter 5 Illustrations By John Tenniel

Guys, can we all agree that The White Queen is kind of a mess?

Hey, we know that guy!

Turning into a sheep might be an improvement...

If only we could figure out why the chapter is called Wool And Water

Chapter 5 Wool and Water By Lewis Carroll

She caught the shawl as she spoke, and looked about for the owner: in another moment the White Queen came running wildly through the wood, with both arms stretched out wide, as if she were flying, and Alice very civilly went to meet her with the shawl.

‘I’m very glad I happened to be in the way,’ Alice said, as she helped her to put on her shawl again.

The White Queen only looked at her in a helpless frightened sort of way, and kept repeating something in a whisper to herself that sounded like ‘bread-and-butter, bread-and-butter,’ and Alice felt that if there was to be any conversation at all, she must manage it herself. So she began rather timidly: ‘Am I addressing the White Queen?’

‘Well, yes, if you call that a-dressing,’ The Queen said. ‘It isn’t my notion of the thing, at all.’

Alice thought it would never do to have an argument at the very beginning of their conversation, so she smiled and said, ‘If your Majesty will only tell me the right way to begin, I’ll do it as well as I can.’

‘But I don’t want it done at all!’ groaned the poor Queen. ‘I’ve been a-dressing myself for the last two hours.’

It would have been all the better, as it seemed to Alice, if she had got some one else to dress her, she was so dreadfully untidy. ‘Every single thing’s crooked,’ Alice thought to herself, ‘and she’s all over pins!—may I put your shawl straight for you?’ she added aloud.

‘I don’t know what’s the matter with it!’ the Queen said, in a melancholy voice. ‘It’s out of temper, I think. I’ve pinned it here, and I’ve pinned it there, but there’s no pleasing it!’

‘It can’t go straight, you know, if you pin it all on one side,’ Alice said, as she gently put it right for her; ‘and, dear me, what a state your hair is in!’

‘The brush has got entangled in it!’ the Queen said with a sigh. ‘And I lost the comb yesterday.’

Alice carefully released the brush, and did her best to get the hair into order. ‘Come, you look rather better now!’ she said, after altering most of the pins. ‘But really you should have a lady’s maid!’

‘I’m sure I’ll take you with pleasure!’ the Queen said. ‘Twopence a week, and jam every other day.’

Alice couldn’t help laughing, as she said, ‘I don’t want you to hire me—and I don’t care for jam.’

‘It’s very good jam,’ said the Queen.

‘Well, I don’t want any to-day, at any rate.’

‘You couldn’t have it if you did want it,’ the Queen said. ‘The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday—but never jam to-day.’

‘It must come sometimes to “jam to-day,”‘ Alice objected.

‘No, it can’t,’ said the Queen. ‘It’s jam every other day: to-day isn’t any other day, you know.’

‘I don’t understand you,’ said Alice. ‘It’s dreadfully confusing!’

‘That’s the effect of living backwards,’ the Queen said kindly: ‘it always makes one a little giddy at first—’

‘Living backwards!’ Alice repeated in great astonishment. ‘I never heard of such a thing!’

‘—but there’s one great advantage in it, that one’s memory works both ways.’

‘I’m sure mine only works one way,’ Alice remarked. ‘I can’t remember things before they happen.’

‘It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards,’ the Queen remarked.

‘What sort of things do you...

Chapter 4 – Tweedledum And Tweedledee

Episode Summary