Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll, must be the most famous of all children’s books. Reading the tale, it is not hard to see why. A story which begins with a white rabbit rushing hurriedly along muttering to himself about being late begins a journey into the strangest of all worlds. Carroll’s imaginative genius is second to none. There is sheer joy in being swept along in this world of bizarre characters who have become such a part of our culture. Who hasn’t heard of the Mad Hatter or the Queen of Hearts, the Mock Turtle or the Cheshire Cat? Who hasn’t revelled in the wonderful nonsense of the poems that litter the story?It is this combination of imagination and nonsense which really mark out the author’s writing. His is a surreal world where anything can happen, where people do and say the strangest things. Caroll loves words; he loves playing with them for no other reason than the fun of it. This use of words overlays and underpins the whole book. Our normal though patterns are disrupted. We are forced to join in with this new universe with its own reality. If you only know of Lewis Carroll through the films, I would strongly recommend reading the book. Good though the adaptations may be, nothing can replace seeing the words on the page and being drawn into their magical world.