3 h 27 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 85 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 85 pagesAbout this book
What if running faster keeps you still, and the words you trust refuse to hold their meaning?
Alice climbs through the mirror above her fireplace and enters a country laid out like a chessboard. Here, talking flowers and living chess pieces have rules of their own. A polite but stubborn pawn, Alice wants to cross the board and become a queen—if she can make sense of the game.
In Through the Looking-Glass, Lewis Carroll turns each encounter into a playful challenge. The Red Queen hurries Alice along, the White Queen lives backwards, and Humpty Dumpty claims command over words. Beneath the jokes and nonsense lie questions about time, identity, and what it means to be real.
What you’ll discover
- A world beyond the mirror Follow Alice into a chessboard country where familiar things obey wonderfully unfamiliar rules.
- The race that goes nowhere Run beside the Red Queen while the trees and hills stay exactly where they are.
- Words with minds of their own Meet Humpty Dumpty and explore the slippery gap between what words mean and what speakers intend.
- Nonsense worth thinking about Let Jabberwocky and Carroll’s wordplay draw you toward questions hidden inside the laughter.
- A gentle, clumsy companion Spend time with the White Knight, whose kindness accompanies his collection of useless inventions.
Who will love it
For readers who love Alice in Wonderland, wordplay, logic puzzles and nonsense verse, and parents who enjoy reading aloud.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A mirror opens onto a chessboard country
- Running hard only keeps you in place
- Two fat brothers and a sleeping king
- The White Queen lives backwards, and a shop shifts
- Humpty Dumpty makes words obey him
- A lion, a unicorn and a gentle knight
- Words, logic and the rules of nonsense
- How the book is built, from chess to mirror
Who’s who
- AliceA polite, stubborn seven-year-old who climbs through a mirror and wants to cross the chessboard country to become a queen.
- The Red QueenA stern, bossy ruler who explains the rules of the chess land and hurries Alice along the board.
- The White QueenA flustered, kindly queen who lives backwards in time and believes impossible things before breakfast.
- Tweedledum and TweedledeeTwo round, identical brothers who recite poems, quarrel over a rattle and tell Alice she is part of a dream.
- Humpty DumptyA proud egg on a wall who insists that words mean exactly what he chooses and explains Jabberwocky.
- The White KnightA gentle, clumsy knight full of useless inventions who rescues Alice and sees her to the edge of the wood.
- The Lion and the UnicornTwo rival beasts who fight for the White King's crown and treat Alice with suspicion.
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 27 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 15 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in, 85 pages: USD 6.95 when you start free, USD 12.95 on its own.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in, 85 pages: USD 13.95 when you start free, USD 19.95 on its own.
- 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.
eBooks and audiobooks open right away. Download EPUB or PDF, or send the book to your Kindle. Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then USD 0.14 a day in your first year on the yearly plan and USD 0.27 a day after, or USD 0.66 a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
25 languages, side by side
Read and hear Through the Looking-Glass in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Through the Looking-Glass
by Lewis Carroll · 1871
Alice steps through a mirror into a chessboard country, where she is a pawn with a chance to become a queen.
Excellent
- Read or listen
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then USD 0.14 a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 8
A mirror opens onto a chessboard country
The story begins at home on a winter afternoon. Alice is in the drawing room with her old cat Dinah and two kittens, a black one called Kitty and a white one called Snowdrop. She talks to Kitty about the room she can see in the mirror over the fireplace. Perhaps the fire there smokes, she says. Perhaps the books read backwards.
Then she climbs onto the mantelpiece, and the glass turns soft as mist. She steps through and finds herself in the Looking-glass House. The clock on the wall wears a smiling face. The chessmen on the hearth are alive, and they walk about without noticing her. A book on the table holds a poem printed in reverse, so she holds it up to the mirror to read it.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
Free gifts
USD 580 in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
USD 170FREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
USD 120FREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
USD 60FREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
USD 60FREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
USD 170FREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about Through the Looking-Glass
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy just the printed book?
Yes. The paperback costs USD 12.95 on its own. Start free and you pay the cost of printing: USD 6.95 for this paperback, and any other book at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is Through the Looking-Glass about?
It follows Alice as she climbs through a mirror into a land laid out as a chessboard. She meets odd characters on each square, such as the Red Queen, Humpty Dumpty and the White Knight, and tries to reach the eighth square.
Is Through the Looking-Glass a sequel to Alice in Wonderland?
Yes. Lewis Carroll published it in 1871 as the follow-up to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It has the same heroine, but a new setting, a chess-game structure, and different characters, so you can read it on its own.
What does the poem Jabberwocky mean?
It is a nonsense poem about a young hero who slays a monster, written with invented words. In the book Humpty Dumpty explains some of them, such as slithy for lithe and slimy. Many have since entered English.
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 like this
Free
Free
Free
Free
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
Popular in children's classics
See all
Free
Free
Free
Free
Free
Free
Free
