Liddy loves Alice in Wonderland

Lydia loves looking at my Richard Sabuda pop up book version of Alice in Wonderland.  Coincidentally, at this very moment I am finishing an audio book of Alice I have Been, a historical novel about the girl who inspired the fairy tale.  It is really interesting to read the children's book to Lydia while being so absorbed in the real lives of the characters and the author.  As a result of Lydia's "Tea for Two: Mad Hatter Tea Birthday Party" I now own several versions of Alice, including a copy of the original hand written Alice's Adventures Underground and a leather bound edition with the classic illustrations.  However, those are both a bit advanced for a three year old.  The pop up is our current favorite.  Here are a few scenes that we both enjoy.  There are SO many amazing scenes, it was hard to narrow it down!

This is how the whole thing begins.  Alice and her sister on the river bank (that is her older sister Regina who comes up in the historical narrative as well).  Take a good look at the trees.  You can see the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, and the Queen (modeled after the real Alice's mother, apparently)!  This is also when Alice spots a white rabbit with a pocket watch (very similar to Alice's father, the dean of Oxford college).

The rabbit falls down a hole and Alice follows and the pop up book shows this in a WONDERFUL way.  There is an accordion fold section with a hole through the middle.  When you look through the hole, everything lines up and you see the book lined hole with Alice at the bottom.  Lydia LOVES this part.

Another small graphic, but a good one, this is when the baby turns into a pig.

Lydia Loves opening and closing this part and saying "Now you're a baby, now you're a pig" over and over again. 

Here is Lydia playing with the tea party page.  I have been surprised by how study the book is and how careful my three year old is with the book.  We have only had one small part tear and I am not entirely sure it was Lydia's fault.  I was able to glue the broken part back together, so all is well.

Here is the tea party page close up.The tea cups even appear to have tea in them!

A final shot of Lydia playing with the figures at the croquet game.  The hedge hog spins and Alice moves the flamingo back and forth.

The last page is an eruption of cards as Alice fights her way out of the dream.  By this point Lydia is generally ready for sleep and her own dreams.