Alice in Wonderland

June 1, 2003
'Tis the season for journeying down rabbit holes. In addition to Sabuda's and Seibold's pop-up editions (see Children's Forecasts, Sept. 22). Ralph Steadman portrays the curious girl in spirited illustrations that bring new life to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Steadman's imaginative pen-and-ink drawings, which first appeared in a 1968 British edition, have here been restored, reformatted and updated. The White Rabbit's anxiety at his tardiness seems insurmountable in an opening portrait; the bottle labeled "Drink Me" unmistakably resembles a classic Coca-Cola bottle; and the artist depicts Alice outgrowing the White Rabbit's house as a wordless spread of the girl in a dark interior, with only a window as the source of light. His artwork deftly blends contemporary ideas with timeless psychological portrayals.

October 1, 1989
Publishing a newly illustrated edition of a children's classic is a risky undertaking: Is there really a need, for example, for another excursion down the rabbit hole with Alice? However, when the work is graced with Weevers's elegant watercolors, the answer is a resounding yes. Encountering the sublime cover painting, the reader senses instantly that here is no commonplace Alice : only slightly bedraggled, the plucky heroine paddles valiantly through the pool of tears, with stately birds and a solitary mouse in tow. In this volume Weevers ( The Hare and the Tortoise , Herbert Binns and the Flying Tricycle ) has produced his most sophisticated and lavishly detailed paintings to date. A magnificently liveried, haughty lobster sneers as he grooms fastidiously; a dolorous King of Hearts and his indignant consort preside at a tasty trial, heedless of the courtroom banner proclaiming Amor vincit omnia --love will certainly not conquer this pair. Rendered in a traditional style, unlike the surrealistic approach chosen by Anthony Browne in his recent edition of Alice , these illustrations are set amidst a treasure trove of Victoriana: Alice plummets past a dusty bell jar surrounded by crumbling leatherbound volumes, the Duchess perches on a Chinese oriental carpet beside a tufted leather footstool. This is an Alice to revisit again and again. Ages 8-up.