Lewis Carroll, Christ Church College, and the Alice Books Many of people know the children’s books, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There,” but do you know the person that wrote the two most recognized children’s books of all time. Lewis Carroll, who attended Christ Church College in Oxford, is considered the greatest writer of children’s literature. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was born on January 27, 1832. He was the oldest of eleven children. His father, Dr. Dodgson was the vicar of Daresbury, Cheshire. Dodgson’s parents were unusually religious and they were first cousins. Because Daresbury was so isolated and there was no want of children, Dodgson invented games to keep him and his brothers and sisters entertained. He made a troupe of marionettes and a stage with the help of family and a village carpenter. He wrote all the plays himself and manipulated the strings of the puppets. He made pets of snails and toads and attempted to promote modern warfare with earthworms by giving them small clay pipes for weapons (Kunitz 119). Dodgson’s father from the first took an active part in his son’s education and the following anecdote will show that he had at least a pupil who was anxious to learn: “One day, when Charles was a very small boy, he came up to his father and showed him a book of logarithms, with the request, ‘Please explain.’ Dr. Dodgson told him that he was much to young to understand anything about such a difficult subject. The child listened to what his father said, and he still insisted, ‘But please explain!’”(Collingwood 12) Until the age of twelve Dodgson’s father educated him, and then he went to Mr. Tate’s School at Richmond. From Richmond he went to Rugby under Dr. Tate (Kunitz 119). On May 23, 1850, he applied at Christ Church College, Oxford. In January ...
