Alice with a Why

by Anna James Narrated by Kristin Atherton

Overview

¿"Acleverly constructed return to Wonderland...a winner through and through." --Booklist (starred review)

¿"This homage sparkles. Delightful in every way."--Kirkus reviews (starred review)

From #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Chronicles of Whetherwhy and Pages & Co. series, comes a retelling of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland wherein Alice's granddaughter finds herself tumbling down into Wonderland.

Journey back to Wonderland . . .

England, 1919. Alyce-with a Y-is sent to live with her grandmother, the original Alice, after having lost her father in war. When a mysterious invitation to a tea party hits her square in the face, Alyce realizes her grandmother's strange stories of a place called Wonderland might have some truth to them after all.

Soon Alyce is tumbling down into Wonderland herself, but the place she finds is not the colorful world she's heard stories of, but a world trapped in its own war. The Sun King and the Queen of the Moon are fighting over a stolen hour, and soon Alyce is tasked with setting it right. With the help of the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat and a Sailor Fox, Alyce will have to solve Wonderland's problems and, eventually, find her way back home.

An enchanting adventure through Wonderland, Alice With a Why is both a celebration of Lewis Carroll's beloved original story, and a modern masterpiece.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"James brings modern readers a cleverly constructed return to Wonderland...Readers new to the story and setting will be taken on a fantastical, tumble-down adventure, and those who have already visited Wonderland will experience a deeper appreciation of both tales. With its Monty Pythonesque flavor and quirky intelligence, this is a winner through and through." --Booklist (starred review)

"Land’s exquisite, detailed black-and-white illustrations feel updated while evoking John Tenniel’s original artwork. With confident writing that manages to be both archly British (“How dreadfully impertinent”) and whimsical (“The Things You Need To Know Before We Begin”), this homage sparkles. Delightful in every way."--Kirkus reviews (starred review)


"This upbeat ode by James (the Chronicles of Whetherwhy series) faithfully captures the essence of the inspiration material’s wild logic, sharp wordplay, and extensive whimsy. Land’s black & white illustrations . . . recall the warmth of John Tenniel’s fluid artwork." --Publishers Weekly


"A fun follow-up for Alice lovers, an homage that Carroll likely would have approved." --BCCB

Product Details

BN ID:	2940193241492
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	01/06/2026
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

Read an Excerpt

THE WRONG ALICE

“There you are at last,” a voice hallooed from the darkness, as Alyce slid down the sandbar as gracefully as she could, which was not very.

“Who’s there?” she called nervously, but walked toward the voice, for there was no other way to go.

“And have you brought any sugar?” came another, sleepy-sounding voice.

“I’m so sorry, I haven’t,” Alyce said, remembering all of a sudden the request for sugar on the un-invitation. “And I’m afraid I haven’t got a teapot either.”

“Who brings their own teapot to a tea party?” a third voice said. “How dreadfully impertinent.”

“Oh, I thought it was what you wanted, but the invitation was a little burned and smudged,” Alyce said, as she crept closer to the light and the voices.

At the end of the tunnel was another circular room, this one with no roof at all. It looked like one of the buildings damaged in air raids that Alyce had seen in the newspaper. The walls crumbled at the top so that a bright cloudless sky could be seen above. Burned velvet curtains hung around the edges of the room, and many doors of different sizes could be seen through the ripped and singed portions. Some of the doors were no bigger than Dinah, and some were several times the height of Alyce.

In the center of the room was a three-legged table that was much too tiny to host any sort of tea party. It was stacked with a great pile of cracked and dirty bowls and plates and teacups and teapots all on top of and inside each other, and every time one of the three seated guests moved, something crashed from the top of the pile to the floor, so that they were sitting amid a great circle of smashed china.

The three voices belonged to three strange . . . Alyce could not quite say “people,” as two of them weren’t. A hare sat in an armchair that was missing one leg so it tilted to the side. He wore what once would have been a very smart jacket, shirt, and bow tie, but they were as tattered and burned as the curtains. A dormouse perched on top of a very tall stool, looking rather drowsy. But every time it looked as though he would drop off and fall, the Hare gave his stool a kick and jerked the Dormouse awake, and then caught the stool before it fell. The third character stood up from the pile of cushions he had been sitting on and came over to Alyce. He wore a hat made of purple velvet, the top of which had been sliced right off and filled with feathers, which would have looked quite spectacular if they too were not burned. Indeed, alarmingly, some were still smoking.

“Who are you?” he asked, peering closely at her. “You are almost right, but not quite. For one thing your hair is the wrong color.”

“I’m Alyce,” she replied. “And I don’t see how it can be wrong, as my hair has always been this color.”

“You’re certainly not our Alice.”

“No, I’m my Alyce.”

“We sent our Alice an invitation.”

“It came to me; in fact it hit me in the face quite hard, so you should be more careful how you direct them. And anyway I’m Alyce too. Alyce with a Y.”

“A why?”

“Why, yes.”

“Do you have a where or a who?”

“Pardon me?” Alyce said, not following at all.

“You have a why, so I assume you have a where or a who,” he elaborated. “But perhaps you have a what?”

“What?”

“What I mean to say is, where is our Alice? The one without a why?”

“She’s at home, I should think,” Alyce said. “Your Alice—the one with an I.”

“We all have an eye,” the man said. “Most of us have two.”

“No, you’re getting it all wrong!” Alyce said, starting to feel rather frustrated. “I mean that I am me, not her. I’m just me.”

“Clearly so! Our Alice knew you could be twelve people by tomorrow, and even more by yesterday,” the man said, putting his hands on his hips.

“It can’t be yesterday,” Alyce said. “Because it’s today! It’s always today . . . until it’s tomorrow, I suppose.” She frowned.

“Quite right, quite right,” the man said. “Yesterday does always seem to be dropping behind, doesn’t it? Very careless of it. Now, where did you say our Alice was?”

“At home!”

“Please could you go and get her?”

“I don’t think I know how to get back if I wanted to. But even if I could, why do you need her and not me?”

“Because I thought you said you already had a why!”

“I mean, why do you need the other Alice? I am the only one here!”

“In that case,” the man said, “perhaps you will have to do.”