Jabberwocky - Hardcover

Lewis Carroll

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0810911507 ISBN 13: 9780810911505

Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, 1989

Synopsis

The author/illustrator of the best-selling "Animalia" interprets the famed poem from "Through the Looking Glass," offering thirty-two imaginative and marvelously detailed illustrations

About this title

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-4-- The creator of Animalia here applies his far-out fantasy style to Lewis Carroll's "narrative" nonsense poem. A princely hero sets out from his castle to slay the Jabberwock. Scenes of a cozy medieval village and a romantic landscape are abruptly breached by the advent of the Jabberwock, a hideous apparition loosely based on Tenniel's original. The double-page confrontation, as readers peer into its lurid, gaping throat, is nightmarish, but the hero swiftly dispatches the monster and rides home. The village is now inexplicably in ruins, while the king on his throne appears unchanged. This discrepancy will probably interest children less than the small anachronisms scattered throughout the illustrations, or the sub-Martian fauna lurking in the riotous flora. (These biological oddities are a lot more convincing than the illustrations of the horse, tack, or rider, in which the artist seems to have been more intent on imagination than observation.) Less inventive and visually aggressive than Animalia , Jabberwocky' s heroic-psychedelic interpretation may not be definitive but will introduce Carroll's classic to new readers. --Patricia Dooley, Univ . of Washington, Seattle
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly

Base's considerable interpretive talents, on full display in Animalia , are featured in this wildly inventive version of "Jabberwocky" from Through the Looking Glass. The lilting phonetic texture of the poem is perfectly enhanced by Base's dramatic full-color paintings. The primeval forest, fairly bursting from the pages with steamy vegetation of every description, is a fitting home for the variety of incredible creatures that dwell within. Jabberwock, Jubjub and Bandersnatch are fully and uniquely hewn from the artist's imagination. "Slithy Toves" becomes two endearing little green creatures that look like a cross between prehistoric animals and beings recently arrived from another planet. The warring elements of this fantastic adventure are dichotomously conveyed: bleary-eyed, razor-toothed, with sharp tentacles, the Jabberwock swoops menacingly, a true embodiment of villainous horror, while the fair-haired prince, thoughtful and courageous on his milk-white steed, is by contrast good and pure. Overflowing with mythic splendor, this compelling version of the Jabberwocky should prove enduring. All ages.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0810911507
• ISBN 13: 9780810911505
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Graeme Base