Lewis Carrol (Charles Ludwig Dodgeson), a math teacher in Oxford, wrote the first Alice book following a day-trip with the
Liddell sisters, who were the daughters of firends of him. The book
follows little, curious Alice, who daydreams while listening to her sister reading a "book without pictures", when a white rabbit passes by, talking to himself. As Alice follows the rabbit down the rabbit hole, she arrives in a
wonderland - a place where reason and common knowledge seems to have gone mad. What follows is an amusing, witty story, descirbing Alice's encounters with the habitants of this land of wonders - the Red Queen, the disappearing/reappearing grinning Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter and his tea party guests, and so on. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was followed by Through the Looking Glass, in which Alice visits an "upside down" land which lies behind the mirror. Both books, as well as the orinigal John Tenniel illustrations, have become classics, enjoyed by children and adults for close to 150 years. Alice's character has appeared in numerous other works, including books, films (most notably, perhaps, Disney's 1950's version), plays, computer games, etc.