I can cross another classic off my 26 in 2026 Reading Challenge, and this time I followed a little girl down a rabbit hole. I thought I knew Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland after years of movies, quotes, and characters that have worked their way into pop culture. Reading the actual book made me realize Wonderland is somehow even stranger than I remembered.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Genres: Fantasy, Children's Fantasy, Classic
About the Book:

Alice follows a White Rabbit down a rabbit hole and enters Wonderland, where logic has been turned upside down. She encounters talking animals, bizarre rules, riddles, strange transformations, the Cheshire Cat, Mad Hatter, Queen of Hearts, and an assortment of characters who make very little sense and somehow make perfect Wonderland sense.

Tropes:🕳️ Portal Fantasy 💭 Dream World 🎩 Absurdism & Nonsense 🐇 Talking Animals ✨ Magical Adventure

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I went into Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland already knowing Alice, the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, and the Queen of Hearts. At least I thought I knew them. It turns out the Wonderland Lewis Carroll created is much more ridiculous, confusing, and completely random than the versions I’ve seen on screen.

Alice follows the White Rabbit down the rabbit hole and spends most of the book trying to make sense of a place that has absolutely no interest in making sense. She changes size constantly, talks to animals, attends one of the strangest tea parties ever held, and tries to have perfectly reasonable conversations with characters who refuse to behave reasonably.

I think the nonsense was both what I enjoyed most and what occasionally drove me crazy. There were moments when I wanted to know where we were going with all of this, only to realize that was probably the point. Wonderland doesn’t follow Alice’s rules. Conversations wander off in unexpected directions, words don’t always mean what they’re supposed to mean, and everyone seems perfectly comfortable with the chaos except Alice.

I really liked Alice herself. She’s curious and surprisingly opinionated for a little girl who has fallen into an impossible world. She questions people. She gets annoyed. Sometimes she’s polite, and sometimes she’s clearly had enough of everybody’s foolishness. I couldn’t blame her. I would have lost my patience with several of these characters long before she did.

The Cheshire Cat was probably my favorite. I also enjoyed finally seeing the Mad Hatter’s tea party as Carroll originally wrote it, and the Queen of Hearts was every bit as unreasonable as expected. There is something funny about a woman constantly demanding executions while everyone around her seems to know she’s mostly full of hot air.

Reading this as an adult was an interesting experience because I kept thinking about how strange it must have seemed when it was first published. There isn’t a traditional adventure with a clear destination waiting at the end. Alice simply keeps moving through Wonderland and meeting increasingly bizarre people and creatures.

I’m glad Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland made it onto my 26 in 2026 list. Now I finally know what actually happened down that rabbit hole instead of piecing the story together from a lifetime of Disney, quotes, tea-party decorations, and Cheshire Cat merchandise.