Though most ebooks are simple conversions of paper books, "The eNotated Through the Looking Glass" is a completely new approach that takes advantage of ebook technology by providing comprehensive eNotations (electronic annotations), essays, and background information conveniently accessible through links and a active table of contents. Written by Pam Sowers, researcher, journalist, and long-time "Alice" fan, this background biographical, historical, and interpretive information reveals a "Looking Glass" not visible to most readers.
Sowers notes in her introduction, "Carroll achieved something remarkable with 'Looking Glass' It is more 'lyrical and contemplative; it contains pure poetry,' an extraordinarily rare achievement in a book intended for children. One of the unique qualities of Carroll's 'Alice' books is that they remain relevant to their readers, even as the readers mature and their world changes. 'Reading them first as a child then as a teenager, and finally as an adult, this continuing dynamism has seemed one of the strangest things about them. How could a book keep changing? Of course, I knew that really I was the one changing, as I grew up. Yet the shifting uncertainty, the sense that none of what I read had been quite what it seemed, was the element that kept drawing me back.' Clearly Carroll was writing on many different levels, and each time, we re-read them with new mental and emotional equipment."
Comparing "Wonderland" and "Looking-Glass," Sowers points out "The autumnal tone of 'Looking-Glass' is very different from 'Wonderland' because by this time, Carroll's perspective on life had shifted. He could no longer consider himself young, and this admission to himself is reflected in his writing. 'The second Alice book has the same rich vein of nonsense but it is also sombre and wistful and it reflects an author who had come to terms with unhappiness.' Throughout the book, the characters are more thoughtful and a little sadder. Maturity, and mature concerns, temper Carroll's inspiration."
Published in hundreds of variously illustrated editions reaching millions of readers over generations, "Looking Glass" has over time become less accessible than it was to Carroll's Victorian contemporaries. Sowers's eNotations supply the tacit background Alice knew but we don't, revealing the humor, insight, and fun of this many-layered complex book.
This eNotated Classics edition of "Looking Glass" contains more than 90 illustrations, most in color, from the most beloved editions of "Looking Glass as well as more than 280 eNotations, an introduction, three fascinating essays, an extensive bibliography, and a chronology showing where Carroll and "Looking Glass" fit in their times.
If you read "Looking Glass" as a child, you'll be amazed on reading the eNotated edition how much you missed and can now appreciate. If you value reading to your child, this eNotated edition, with it's illustrations and eNotations, can provide opportunities for going beyond Carroll's words - to discuss children's lives in Victorian England, what pun's are, and how logic functions, how dreams differ from daily life and other topics that can engage your child - not just in Carroll's words but the meanings that lie behind them.
