Al Dempster (1911–2001)

Alice in Wonderland is a classic book and movie. The story begins with a girl named Alice that follows a rabbit down a hole. The rabbit is late and is rushing to get to his important occasion. She ends up in a room with two cookies, one will make her shrink and the other will make her taller. She eats a little bit of both so that she can fit through the key hole. She has ends up going on an unimaginable adventure. She talks to a cat that can disappear in an instance, meats a smoking caterpillar, and walks through a garden of mean flowers. Alice has a tea party with a mad hatter, has an encounter with tweedle dee and tweedle dum, and has a horrifying golfing experience with the queen of hearts. By the end of the adventure she is ready to go home.

Alice in Wonderland is a timeless classic in both the book and movie form. I remember reading this book as a small child. I also enjoyed watching the movie created by Walt Disney. This book portrays fantasy throughout the entire story. Talking rabbits, disappearing cats, and golfing with flamingos are just a few of the elements that make up the adventure and fantasy of the story.

Classroom Extension 1: I would give the students a card from a regular deck of cards. I would ask them to think back to the story and about the guards and servants that worked for the queen of hearts. I would ask then to draw, paint, or create themselves as one of those guards. I would have them use the card as part of their armor just like in the story.

Classroom Extension 2: After reading the book, to make the story more concrete we would have a tea party. I would ask each student to dress as a character from the story and bring one food or drink item to the tea party. As the students snack and have tea together they would watch the movie Alice and Wonderland. After watching the movie we would discuss what some of the elements of the book and movie were fantasy.… (más)