From Publishers Weekly
Zwerger's (The Wizard of Oz) captivating cover image of the Mad Tea-Party for this edition of Carroll's 1865 tale conveys the psychological tension of the interior artwork: Alice, at the head of an elongated table with a pristine white linen cloth, stares at the pocket watch that the March Hare is about to lower into his cup of tea. The Hare, bug-eyed, gazes out at readers while the Mad Hatter to his right, wearing a hat box, fixates on a black upturned chapeau (in lieu of a place setting), and the Dormouse between them sleeps. Across the table, an empty red mug is placed in front of a vacant green chair, and a teacup and saucer trimmed in red seems to be set for the reader. The painting conveys the way in which Zwerger brilliantly manages both to invite readers into the story and to keep them at a distance. From the heroine's first appearance, as she falls down a well while chasing the White Rabbit, with a glimpse of orderly bookshelves at the upper left corner, Zwerger demonstrates the many layers to Alice's journey: a cutaway view reveals that the bulk of the other "shelves" are the result of rats and insects tunneling underground. The supporting cast conveys the artist's nearly sardonic perspective. The contrary caterpillar, with six of its eight arms crossed, would be at home in New York's East Village: instead of a hookah it smokes a cigarette and sips red wine, yetAunlike Sir John Tenniel's sedated counterpartAthis caterpillar is lucid, defiantly staring out at an Alice (and readers) absent from the scene. Zwerger's penetrating interpretation reinvents Carroll's situations and characters and demands a rereading of the text. All ages. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 2-5-An oversized book containing 12 full-page illustrations, one per chapter, with various smaller pictures of story elements peppered throughout, similar to the layout and design Zwerger used in The Wizard of Oz (North-South, 1996). The pictures are done in muted watercolors with very simple lines. Despite the flawless artistry evident in the work, there is something missing from Zwerger's Alice, and that would appear to be Alice herself. The child is clearly seen full-face in only a single illustration, that of the mad tea party, and then her facial expression is blank and disinterested. Otherwise, she is merely glimpsed: in the distance, looking down, disappearing from the page, and in some cases headless. The illustration of Alice after she has drunk the liquid causing her to grow shows only her cramped knees. Carroll's Alice is a feisty participant in her adventures, but Zwerger portrays her more as a sleepwalker, giving readers no opportunity to see how she is reacting to the events around her, be they bizarre, nightmarish, or humorous. While adults may find the book interesting from a visual standpoint, either the original artwork by John Tenniel or Michael Hague's charming version (Holt, 1995), which has literally double the number of illustrations, will have more child appeal.
Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Since it was first published in 1865, Carroll's masterpiece has inspired and challenged countless illustrators as wildly different in their styles and interpretations as Salvador Daliand Barry Moser. Few have matched the incomparable art of Sir John Tenniel's original pictures, but new generations keep trying because, as Alice herself says, "What is the use of a book without pictures?" The latest to undertake the challenge is Austrian artist Zwerger, who won the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1990. Her watercolor pictures, which range in size from dainty, miniature decorations to full-page illustrations, are uniformly lovely and, occasionally, strange and haunting in their dreamlike quality, making them a surprisingly nice match for the text. Zwerger enlivens her signature muted palette with splashes of vivid color, usually red, a technique that invests her dreamscapes with drama. A must for collectors, this new version of a classic will intrigue and please many children. Michael Cart
About the Author
Lewis Carroll (the pseudonym of the Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) was a mathematics lecturer at Oxford University, but he is better known to the world as the author of ""Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"" (1865) and ""Through the Looking-glass"" (1871), as well as ""The Hunting of the Snark ""(1876).
Lisbeth Zwerger was born in Vienna, where she later studied at the Academy of Art. Internationally renowned as one of the finest contemporary illustrators of children's literature, Zwerger chose ""The Gift of the Magi"" as the first American story she illustrated.
