3 h 32 minAudiobook6 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a single rabbit leads you into a world where size, sense and manners refuse to stay still?
Alice sits bored beside her sister on a warm riverbank until the White Rabbit draws her underground. A bottle makes her shrink. A cake sends her shooting upward. As her size keeps changing, this curious, polite girl tries to make sense of a dream where even simple things become uncertain.
In Alice's Adventures Under Ground, Lewis Carroll brings logic and jokes into a child's strange adventure. Alice meets the easily offended Mouse in a pool of her own tears and encounters the fierce Queen of Hearts, who expects obedience. Shorter and plainer than Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, this first form of the tale lets you discover where the familiar story begins.
What you’ll discover
- A fall into uncertainty Follow Alice away from a dull afternoon and into a dream with shifting rules.
- Small bites, startling changes Discover how a bottle and a cake turn Alice's own size into a constant surprise.
- Manners meet their match Watch a polite girl face creatures whose touchy tempers make conversation hard to navigate.
- A queen who commands Meet the quick-tempered Queen of Hearts and her strange court of playing cards.
- Wonderland at its beginning Explore the shorter, playful tale before it grows into the longer story you may know.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy playful nonsense, riddles and wordplay, or fantasy where logic bends. It suits readers who like to hear a story spoken aloud and to smile along with a curious child.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Curiosity pulls Alice down the rabbit hole
- Eating and drinking can change your size
- Alice cannot say for sure who she is
- A wet crowd, a dry lecture and a cat
- Mistaken for a servant, Alice grows too big
- The caterpillar asks the hardest question
- The Queen of Hearts rules by shouting
Who’s who
- AliceA curious, polite and sensible girl who follows a rabbit underground and keeps trying to work out who she is and how to reach the garden.
- The White RabbitA nervous rabbit in a waistcoat who worries about being late and is afraid of the Queen, and who mistakes Alice for his maid.
- The MouseA touchy swimmer who hates cats and dogs and offers a dry history lesson to a damp crowd.
- The CaterpillarA blunt blue creature on a mushroom who keeps asking Alice who she is and tells her how to change size.
- The Queen of HeartsA furious ruler who orders beheadings every minute and plays croquet with live animals.
- The Mock TurtleA sobbing creature who once was a real turtle and describes school under the sea and the Lobster Quadrille.
- The GryphonA cheerful guide who insists the Queen never really executes anyone and leads Alice from place to place.
- DinahAlice's pet cat, who never appears but frightens the mouse and the birds whenever Alice mentions her.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 3 h 32 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 6 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Alices Abenteuer unter der Erde
by Lewis Carroll · 1886
A girl follows a white rabbit down a hole and keeps changing size in a strange land.
Medium level2–5 hours to read25 languages
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In short
What would you do if a rabbit in a waistcoat checked its watch and hurried past you? Alice follows it.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Curiosity pulls Alice down the rabbit hole
The story opens on a hot day. Alice sits by her sister on a riverbank, bored by a book with no pictures or conversations. Then a white rabbit with pink eyes runs past, takes a watch out of its waistcoat pocket and hurries on. Alice has never seen such a thing, so she chases it into a rabbit hole without thinking about how she will climb out.
The hole turns into a very deep well, and the fall is slow enough for her to look around. The walls are lined with cupboards, bookshelves, maps and pictures. She lifts down a jar of orange marmalade, finds it empty and puts it back so it will not hurt anyone below. She wonders how many miles she has dropped and whether she will come out among people who walk upside down. She asks whether cats eat bats, then drifts off to sleep, and lands on a heap of sticks.
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What is Alice's Adventures Under Ground about?
It follows a girl named Alice who chases a white rabbit down a hole. Underground she changes size, meets talking creatures, and tries to reach a lovely garden while a bad-tempered queen rules over it.
Is Alice's Adventures Under Ground the same as Alice in Wonderland?
It is the earlier, shorter form of the story that grew into Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It has the rabbit hole, the pool of tears, the caterpillar and the Queen, told in a swift, simple way.
Who is the Mock Turtle?
The Mock Turtle is a sad creature who says he was once a real turtle. He tells Alice about his school under the sea and teaches her the Lobster Quadrille with the Gryphon.
The author
Lewis Carroll
1832–1898 · English children's writer and mathematician
Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, born in Cheshire, England, in 1832. He lived and taught mathematics at Christ Church, Oxford. He wrote Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), Through the Looking-Glass (1871), and Sylvie and Bruno (1889). He died in Guildford, England, in 1898.
More by Lewis Carroll
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