Carroll, Lewis. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. Ed. Hugh Haughton. Centenary ed. London: Penguin, 1998.
I have read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland so many times that I have large sections of it memorized. When I was young, I got sick often. In particular, I seemed prone to ear infections and strep throat. When I was sick, my Dad would drop me off at my grandparents' house and they would take care of me for the day. Now, I've never been one of those people who sleep well when they are sick. I wasn't allowed to watch TV so my options for entertainment were limited to either homework or reading. My options for reading were Heidi and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Heidi has never interested me much so I read Alice's Adventures many, many times. I even wrote a book report on it once. I always suspected as a child that as much as I enjoyed it, I was still missing something.
If you've never seen the Penguin Classics series, I heartily recommend them. The introductory material offers a pretty interesting overview of Carroll's life as well as discussions on identity and childhood. Carroll's background in both religion and mathematics colors many aspects of the story. The annotations in the back aide in the unraveling.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has earned it's place as a classic of English literature. Re-reading it was a delight.
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