This "frabjous" Book

art by Sarah S. Brannen

          Visit Alyson Beecher on Wednesdays for Non-Fiction Picture Books at Kidlit Frenzy.  From her and others, you will discover and want to celebrate terrific nonfiction picture books!

         Sometimes books are so good that I just want to tell readers to go find and experience this book all by yourself. It is terrific! But I will share a bit. It is a picture book that tells about some main parts of Lewis Carroll's life. The subtitle is key, "A Celebration of Wordplay and a Girl Named Alice". Begin with the endpapers, blue words on blue background, Lewis Carroll's word gifts: gimble and gyre, callooh! callay!, snicker-snack and curiouser and curiouser, and more. (Spell check is going wild!) 
        The book opens before the title page with the final two verses of the poem "Solitude" by Carroll which can be found here. It ends "To be once more a little child/For one bright summer-day." Kathleen Krull writes Carroll's story in prose form, injecting his own words in delightful fashion. For example, even at the beginning, she tells of his joy when leading adventures with his brothers and sisters, "'galumphing'" along the leafy wonderland of the English countryside. Their 'burbles' of delight would brighten the 'tulgey' wood around them." There is also a part about riding in a boat with Alice and others, with Carroll beginning a story about a young girl named Alice who fell down a rabbit hole. And it is a wonder to see how Júlia Sardà illustrates that pack of cards, the "lobster quadrille", and the "Mad Tea Party". Her art fills the pages with whimsey and color. There is a double-page spread of the beginning of Alice In Wonderland with hints of all the incredible adventures to come.

         Lewis Carroll was one of eleven children and the book states he was the oldest, though I found in other research links that state he was the third oldest. I found conflict among several sources. Kathleen Krull does include a source list, an additional note, and a marvelous glossary of all the words included in the text with their definitions and possible origins/backgrounds. They are color-coded according to the text origin. One example: "'Snark'" is "an imaginary animal, perhaps combining 'snail' and 'shark'. Carroll always claimed he had no clear idea what it was."