Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Jamison Odone | Website
Publisher/Year: Publishing Works | February 27, 2010
Pages: 192
Series: Stickfiguratively Speaking
Genre: Classic Adaptation, Fiction, Upper Grade
Format: Hardback
Source: Cincinnati Library
Summary (From Goodreads)
Literary nonsense turns to whimsical imagery with a macabre twist in the pen-and-ink drawings of Jamison Odone. Stick figures have never emoted this much energy as each page brings a certain curiosity to a new light in this deconstruction of Lewis Carroll’s classic. Starkly black and white, these stick characters are as much a quandary as their literary, cartoon and theatre counterparts ever were. Omitting much of the melodic verbiage of the original, Stickfiguratively Speaking creates a simple variation with an exquisitely sophisticated twist that’s already being compared to Edward Gorey.
“Stickfiguratively Speaking is a way that I take stories that I love and adapt them in a visually simple way that is truthfully not all that simple,” says Odone. “I view each of these books as an individual project in storytelling, design, and picture making.
First Off…
I read the original Alice in Wonderland when I was in middle school and hated it. I never liked the Disney version and thought the Book was bound to be better. So I read it, and then I read Through the Looking Glass, thinking it would get better eventually. That was my first lesson in it doesn’t always get better. The strange thing is, I love retellings of this story. So when I saw this, I thought it might be offbeat enough I might like it.
Thoughts:
Well, it is a retelling of Alice in Wonderland. It has most, if not all, the poetry and goes though the basic story. It’s pretty straight forward with some asides that made me laugh. Alice was a little more sarcastic through this story, which made me like this version better than the original, even though it did remind me why I hate the original story. I did love the drawings and the way Odone retells the story. He has a way of making a crazy to follow story a little more straight forward. Which made the story more likable and easier to follow. Overall, I did finish it. It was a quick read and, in my opinion, the length the original Alice in Wonderland should have been.
10 Second Summary:
- The Drawings are fun: The stick figure renditions throughout the book make it easy to remember if Alice is big or Small and what is going on.
- It makes Alice in Wonderland a little better of a story: It cut out some of the confusing parts, but kept the story and the poetry.
- Quick Read: If you want a quick refresher of Alice in Wonderland, this is better than cliff notes and will do the trick.
If you like Alice in Wonderland, you may want to get this one. I would say this is somewhere between borrow and if it’s under $5. If you really like Alice in Wonderland or quirky retellings, I would recommend you check this out.