Age guideline 7-11
About the event
Join acclaimed illustrator, author and political cartoonist Chris Riddell as he introduces us to his unique visual interpretation of Lewis Carroll’s magical story. During Alice’s extraordinary adventures in Wonderland, she meets the charming White Rabbit, the formidable Queen of Hearts and the grinning Cheshire-Cat, characters that have become almost as famous as Alice herself and take their place alongside her in one of the most influential children's books of all time. Chris will illustrate each of these unforgettable characters before your eyes, while we hear contemporary book recommendations, selected for each character, from some extraordinary librarians and booksellers whose superpower is helping children find their own magical story.
How to access the event
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The Reader Teacher’s Top Tip
Thanks to Scott Evans, The Reader Teacher, for this top teacher tip:
‘This event is brilliant to use when teaching both English and art in the curriculum to explore the classic characters of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll reimagined through the extraordinary eyes and inimitable illustrations of Chris Riddell.’ @MrEPrimary
Teacher resources
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has been imagined many times, in different versions (books and films for example), and by different illustrators. Chris Riddell has reimagined this new version to celebrate 150 years since the birth of the original illustrator. Listen to your teacher tell you about Alice’s character. How do you imagine her to look like? Draw your version of Alice or the Mad Hatter or the Queen of Hearts or another character from the book. Make it entirely your own, from your imagination. There is no right or wrong way.
The librarians and booksellers in this event recommend books they think a fictional character will like based on what they know about that character. Can you think of a favourite character from a book or film and recommend a book or film they would like?
Do you have a library in your school or classroom? Make a poster recommending your favourite book to display in the space. Try and make it really exciting and use quotes like a film poster (‘I was on the edge of my seat’ / ‘*****’ / ‘Thrilling’ / ‘Laugh out loud fun’)
Can you make a ‘If you like [insert name of popular book or author], then you’ll love these books’ poster to display?
About the author and illustrator
Chris Riddell is an illustrator, author and political cartoonist for the Observer. He has enjoyed great acclaim for his books for children which have won a number of major prizes, including the prestigious CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal an unprecedented three times and the Costa Book Award. He was the 2015-2017 Children’s Laureate. His previous work for Macmillan includes the bestselling Goth Girl and Ottoline series, Once Upon A Wild Wood, The Emperor of Absurdia, and, with Paul Stewart, The Edge Chronicles and he illustrated The Hunting of the Snark, a poem by Lewis Carroll. In 2019 Chris was awarded the OBE by the Queen for his services to children’s literature. Chris lives in Brighton with his family.
Alongside the new gorgeous illustrated edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chris's new poetry anthology Poems To Save The World With and the paperback of The Cloud Horse Chronicles: Guardians of Magic will be out on 17th September. Chris has also illustrated the new picture books Pirate Stew by Neil Gaiman (Bloomsbury), A Clock of Stars by Francesca Gibbons (Harper Collins) and Honey For You, Honey For Me by Michael Rosen (Walker Books), which will be available this autumn.
Twitter: @chrisriddell50
Instagram: @chris_riddell
About the librarians and booksellers
Left to right: Lucas Maxwell, Margaret Houston and Rhian Pritchard
Margaret Houston
Margaret Houston is a Principal Librarian with Glasgow Libraries and is also the programmer for ‘Wee Write’, Glasgow’s Book Festival for children and young people.
Margaret has worked in Reader Development for over 40 years and loves working with authors, publishers and many more to enthuse children (and adults) about the life changing joy of reading. She has twice been awarded ‘Librarian of the Year’ by the Publisher’s Publicity Circle.
Lucas Maxwell
Lucas Maxwell was born in Nova Scotia Canada and has been working with youth in libraries for close to fifteen years. He is currently the librarian at Glenthorne High School in South London. In 2017 he was named the School Librarian of the Year by the School Library Association. You can find him on twitter @lucasjmaxwell
Rhian Pritchard
Rhian is one of the booksellers at Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights, after studying Creative Writing at Bath Spa. When she’s not reading abundance of excellent children’s literature, she’s learning BSL and practicing her Roller Derby skills.
About the festival partner
This event has been programmed by Bath Children’s Literature Festival
Bath Festivals is a charity that brings you the Bath Children’s Literature Festival, Europe’s largest dedicated children’s literature festival with a vibrant array of talks and activities for children. They are also responsible for The Bath Festival in the summer which bring the city alive with a celebration of music and books in the beautiful venues and spaces of the world heritage city. By creating innovative and diverse programmes, their festivals inspire and provide unique experiences for residents and visitors to Bath and surrounding areas. Their year-round creative learning programme of hands-on music and literature projects gives children and young people opportunities to gain real-world experience, building their inner confidence and improving communication skills through the arts.