"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."— Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass
Lewis Carroll
The math teacher who made up Wonderland
His real name was Charles Dodgson, and most of his life was about as quiet as a life can get. He taught math at Oxford University, lived alone, and stuttered so badly that talking with grown-ups made him nervous.
But with kids? With kids he was a different person. He loved making up games, puzzles, riddles, and silly stories on the spot. One sunny afternoon in 1862, he took three sisters out in a rowboat. To keep them entertained, he invented a story about a girl named Alice who chased a white rabbit down a hole and ended up in a strange world where nothing made sense.
Quick Facts
- Born: January 27, 1832
- From: Cheshire, England
- Job: Math teacher & writer
- Famous for: Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
He invented the words 'chortle' and 'galumph', and they're still in the dictionary today!
His Famous Adventures
Read Carroll's stories on Worldly
Carroll's wonder stories work best when they're a little weird and a lot fun. On Worldly, every page is adapted to your reading level.
★ On Worldly
1865Down the hole, into a tea party with a mad hatter, through a court ruled by a card-throwing queen. The wildest story ever told for kids.
1871Alice steps through a mirror into a world that runs like a chess game. Tweedledee, Tweedledum, the Jabberwocky, they're all here.
1876A whole crew sets sail to hunt a creature nobody can quite describe. It's nonsense, and it's a delight.
His Life, Year by Year
From math problems to talking caterpillars
Charles spent most of his time inside the quiet halls of Oxford, but the worlds he invented were anything but quiet.
A vicar's son is born
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson is born in Cheshire, England, the third of eleven children. His dad is a country preacher with a big love of books.
Off to Oxford
Charles goes to Christ Church, Oxford, and never really leaves. He studies math, teaches math, and lives in rooms at the college for the rest of his life.
He picks a pen name
Charles starts publishing poems and stories. He takes his first and middle names, Charles Lutwidge, translates them to Latin, flips them around, and back into English. The result, Lewis Carroll.
A rowboat. A summer day. A story.
On July 4th, Charles rows three Liddell sisters down the Thames and makes up a story about Alice falling down a rabbit hole. Ten-year-old Alice loves it so much she begs him to write it down.
Alice in Wonderland is published
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland hits bookshelves with illustrations by John Tenniel. Kids, and grown-ups, line up to buy it. Queen Victoria reportedly read it and asked for whatever Carroll wrote next.
Back through the looking-glass
Carroll writes a sequel, Through the Looking-Glass. Alice steps through a mirror into a world based on a chess game, and meets Humpty Dumpty, Tweedledee, and Tweedledum.
The end of a quiet life
Charles dies at age 65 of pneumonia. He'd spent his life teaching math, taking photographs, and quietly writing the most famous nonsense story ever told.
Wonderland Inventions
He invented words. He invented worlds.
Lewis Carroll loved playing with language. Some of the words he made up are still in dictionaries today, and some of his characters are more famous than he ever was.
Wonderland · 1865
The Cheshire Cat
A cat with a grin so big it stays behind when the cat disappears. Today, "Cheshire-cat grin" means a smile so wide it takes over your whole face.
Looking-Glass · 1871
Words he made up
Chortle. Galumph. Frumious. Vorpal. Carroll invented these words for his poem "Jabberwocky." Two of them ended up in real dictionaries.
Wonderland · 1865
Down the rabbit hole
We still say "going down the rabbit hole" when we mean getting lost in something curious or strange, straight from Alice's very first chapter.
Wait… really?!
Six surprising things about Lewis Carroll
He was super shy with adults
Carroll had a bad stutter that made talking with grown-ups hard. But around kids, it almost disappeared, he was a totally different person.
He was a really good photographer
Long before cameras were everywhere, Carroll was one of the best portrait photographers in England. He took hundreds of photos of friends and family.
He loved puzzles and games
Carroll invented word puzzles, math games, and even a board game. One of his puzzles is the ancestor of today's word-ladder games.
The real Alice was a real girl
Alice Liddell was the daughter of one of Carroll's friends at Oxford. He made up the whole story to entertain her on a long, hot rowboat ride.
His pen name is a Latin joke
Charles Lutwidge → Latin, Ludovicus Carolus → back to English, Lewis Carroll. A nerdy author joke that stuck.
He turned down a knighthood
Queen Victoria reportedly loved his books, but Carroll preferred a quiet life. He didn't go in for fame or fancy titles.
Good questions, answered
Lewis Carroll FAQ
What was Lewis Carroll's real name?+
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. He used the pen name Lewis Carroll when he wrote stories so he could keep his quiet teaching life at Oxford separate from his famous one.
Why did he write Alice in Wonderland?+
He made up the story to entertain three sisters, Alice, Lorina, and Edith Liddell, on a summer rowboat trip in 1862. Alice begged him to write it down. He did, and the rest is history.
Is the real Alice the one in the book?+
Sort of! The book's Alice was inspired by the real Alice Liddell, the ten-year-old who first heard the story. But the adventures in Wonderland were all from Carroll's imagination.
What age is Lewis Carroll good for?+
Kids from about age 6 enjoy Alice, younger ones with a grown-up reading along. The Worldly version is adapted to each child's reading level, so it always fits.
Did he write anything besides Alice?+
Yes! Through the Looking-Glass (1871) is the sequel. He also wrote nonsense poems, math puzzles, and even photography books. Alice is just his most famous work.
Ready for an adventure?
Dive in with Lewis Carroll
Start with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, adapted to fit your reading level. Dive in free in the Worldly app.