Alice Through the Needle's Eye facts for kids
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| Author | Gilbert Adair |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Publisher | E. P. Dutton |
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Publication date
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1984 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 184 |
| ISBN | 0-525-24303-8 |
| OCLC | 11891346 |
| LC Class | PZ7.A1859 Al 1984 |
| Preceded by | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871) |
Alice Through the Needle's Eye: A Third Adventure for Lewis Carroll's Alice is a fantasy novel written in 1984 by Gilbert Adair. This book is a special tribute to the famous works of Lewis Carroll. It tells a brand new adventure for Alice, the well-known character from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. The story is told in a dream-like, sometimes strange, style, just like Carroll's original books.
Contents
Plot Summary: Alice's New Adventure
The whole story follows Alice as she travels through a world based on the alphabet. She meets many new creatures and faces different challenges. In the end, she wakes up and realizes it was all just a dream. Only a few seconds have passed in the real world.
Beginning the Journey
The story starts with Alice trying to thread a needle. She keeps failing. As she looks very closely, she suddenly finds herself floating through the air. She is in a strange, unknown world. Alice notices that it was December where she was before, but this new "Needle's Eye World" feels like a pleasant summer day.
She lands softly in a haystack. When she gets out, she hears a small cry for "help." Alice soon finds a tiny Country Mouse. The mouse thinks Alice is a comet! The Country Mouse quickly becomes Alice's friend. It tells her that she isn't in a haystack, but an "A-stack," which is a messy pile of the letter A. Alice sees some "spelling bees" flying around. She then leaves the A-stack and walks towards a beach she saw while flying.
Meeting Strange Characters
Alice doesn't go far before she meets two cats. When she looks closer, she sees they are joined at the tail! Alice asks what kind of cats they are. They start to say, "We're Siamese--". Alice interrupts them, saying Siamese cats look different. The cats finish their sentence, explaining they were going to say "Siamese-Twin Cats." Alice apologizes.
The cats, whom Alice names Ping and Pang, start to argue. They say things like "I'm as large as I am" or "I'm as intelligent as I am." Their words become a jumble. After they recover, Ping and Pang recite a poem called "The Sands of Dee." Pang forgets the last word, which makes them want to have a duel. They ask Alice to count twenty paces. Alice says she could count to a hundred if she tried. As Ping and Pang start to walk away from each other, the sky suddenly turns dark. It then rains cats and dogs! When the strange shower stops, Ping and Pang remember they need to go to a "vote." Alice follows them to find out what the vote is about.
The Vote and an Elephant
Alice follows the Siamese Cats towards the vote. Suddenly, a large Elephant appears near her. The Country Mouse, who briefly returns, scares the Elephant. Alice decides not to scare the mouse, but to make it go away. Alice and the Elephant then talk about being afraid of small things. The Elephant asks Alice if she isn't afraid of insects. After their short talk, the Elephant says they will be late for the speeches.
The Elephant then takes Alice to "Hide-and-Seek Park." Here, Alice hears a Grampus (a type of sea creature) and an Italian Hairdresser talking. The Hairdresser speaks in italics, which is how Alice knows he's Italian. An Emu starts its speech, but a Crocodile keeps interrupting it. The Crocodile belongs to the Hairdresser and is held back by an electric eel. Finally, the Emu finishes its speech. It asks everyone to vote for it. Alice asks what the Emu stands for, and it recites a poem about the letter "F." After this, the vote turns into an auction. With a final cry of "Going...going...gone!" everyone suddenly disappears.
An Autobiography and a Train Ride
Luckily, not everyone vanished. Alice is left with the Grampus and the Italian Hairdresser. The Grampus immediately asks if Alice's name is "Boris." After a short talk, the Grampus realizes he wrote the wrong name in his autobiography. He explains how forgetful he is. He gives an example of leaving home without an umbrella and coming back with one. He says he has an autobiography so he doesn't forget things.
Both the Grampus and Alice miss the train that the Grampus wrote they would take in his book. He then points out that they are supposed to be attacked by "blood-thirsty brigands." When he realizes the brigands aren't coming, he asks Alice to tie him up. Soon after, Alice "rescues" him, and they get on the next train. As they ride, the Grampus talks about the meaning of words. After their discussion, the Grampus worries about a hurricane mentioned in his book. Alice doesn't want to "create" a hurricane. She decides to simply write the word 'not' into his book. The train suddenly changes into a study room. Alice, curious, goes out to see what is on a hill she spotted in the distance.
Jack and Jill and a Maze
When Alice starts to climb the hill, she bumps into two "stick figure people." After a short talk, she realizes they are Jack and Jill from the nursery rhyme. But they are quite rude! Alice says she recognized them from the rhyme. Jack then "tests" her. He tells Alice to recite the poem forwards, backwards, and in French. Alice recites the poem easily, as if she'd known it forever. Jack then says that because she "caused" them to fall, she must carry the eels, or "L's," in their bucket to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Alice, being polite, sets off.
After walking for a while, Alice reaches a maze-like place with a sign that says "Llabyrinth." Alice is disappointed because she can't reach the center of the maze. She uses her childish logic: "If I take all lefts I'll be alright, but if I take all rights I'll be left! Left within the maze!" Alice finds many confusing signs that lead her back to where she started. Feeling sad, she hears the Country Mouse. She tries to follow it but can't. She also tries to throw one of the eels over the hedge as a signal, but it comes back like a boomerang. Eventually, she falls asleep. When she wakes up, she sees what she thinks is a human running past her. She follows it and finally reaches the center of the maze. She finds many animals stuck there. They try to have a race for the food that the Welsh Rabbit (the one she followed) has.
The Rabbit Hole and Beyond
In a later chapter, Alice volunteers to go into a rabbit hole. The animals in the maze believe this hole leads out. As she goes down the hole, she feels like she is falling sideways. She describes it as an infinity sign. She thinks about things like parallel lines meeting far away and how the infinity sign looks like a tired number eight. When she finally comes out, she is surprised by where she is.
The story continues with Alice encountering more strange situations and characters, including a long queue, a swan, and a battle of letters. In the end, Alice wakes up and wonders if her whole adventure was just a dream.
Characters
These are the main characters listed in order of appearance in the story:
- Alice Liddell
- Country Mouse
- Ping
- Pang
- Grampus
- Hairdresser
- Jack
- Jill
- Welsh Rabbit
- Otter
- Kangaroo
- Red Queen
- White Queen
- Frog Waiter
- Swan
- Mr. Snake
- Letter Lords
Connections to Wonderland
This book has many links and nods to Lewis Carroll's original novels, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (published in 1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (published in 1871). For example:
- Alice's cat, Dinah, appears at the beginning of the story.
- There is a mouse in the plot, just like in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
- In the maze scene, Alice chases a rabbit and finds a hole she must enter, similar to her first adventure.
