Books like Alice in Wonderland for all ages

If you’re looking for more of Lewis Carroll’s wonderful nonsense poetry, The Hunting of the Snark, inspired by the characters of Alice’s second adventure, Through The Looking Glass, is a good place to start. Featuring a cast of alliterative characters, including a Bellman, a Banker, a Baker, a Butcher and a Beaver, who find themselves on an island full of curious and dangerous creatures, this poetic adventure has all of the otherworldly fun of the Lewis Carroll stories you know and love. This edition of The Hunting of the Snark is illustrated and introduced by former Children’s Laureate, Chris Riddell. 

From the nonsensical nature of his poems, to his creation of words including brillig and chortle, Lewis Carroll’s playful prose and way with words are beloved by millions. In this book, Kathleen Krull presents an enlightening and joyful celebration of Lewis Carroll’s creativity and love of language and life. Featuring full colour illustrations (completed with hidden details that fans will love spotting) and a glossary of Carroll’s invented words, One Day in Wonderland would make a brilliant ‘unbirthday’ present for young readers who love Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. 

If you’ve ever wished for more stories starring the Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter and Tweedledee and Tweedledum, Return to Wonderland is the book for you. Featuring original stories set from beloved contemporary children’s authors including Patrice Lawrence, Chris Smith, Robin Stevens and Lauren St John, each offers a fresh and imaginative perspective about what happened next down the rabbit hole. Brilliantly inventive and funny, these bitesize stories are perfect to read with young Alice fans. 

A magical adventure set between worlds real and imagined, Snowglobe has all of the creative magic of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Stumbling across a mysterious house filled with spellbinding snowglobes, each keeping a magician captive, Clementine feels drawn to them in a way she can’t explain. As she tumbles into the world of the snowglobes, Clem finds her world turned upside down, and on a quest to free the magicians who need her help. This magical children’s book is a perfect next read for young fans of Wonderland. 

When Coraline finds another house hidden behind an old door in the drawing room in her new home, she is drawn to the dark and mysterious world that lies beyond it. Meeting a mother and father quite different from her own who want her to join them in their magical world, Coraline must decide whether to close the door and say goodbye to her old world forever. Fantastical and otherworldly, Neil Gaiman’s modern children’s classic is a must-read for Alice fans of all ages. 

Tumble into a Wonderland before the days of playing card soliders and cries of “Off with his head!”, in Heartless, Marissa Meyer’s fabulously creative imagining of the Queen of Hearts’ origin story. A little girl who dreamed of love and opening her own bakery, Catherine Pinkerton never imagined she’d become the most fearsome woman to ever rule Wonderland. Full of forbidden love, magic and whimsy, Heartless will take you straight back down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. 

Reeling from the death of her mother and her family’s sudden move to Edinburgh, Jaya isn’t even sure who she is anymore. Then, when angels start falling from the sky and crashing to earth, for Jaya it seems like the world has truly turned upside down. Until one day an angel lands on its feet, and Jaya has the chance to find out what really happened to her mother. A story of a girl trying to find her place in the world, Out of the Blue is a YA fantasy novel full of magic and wonder. 

Much like for Alice when she tumbled into the rabbit hole, for Arthur Dent everything seems perfectly normal. Until it isn’t. Discovering his house has been demolished to make way for a new hyperspace express route, things get curiouser and curiouser for the curmudgeonly Dent when his best friend suddenly reveals he has been an alien all along. Escape into a world where nothing is quite what it seems with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the first novel in Douglas Adams’ beloved science fiction Trilogy (of Five). 

Cosy up with a cup of the Mad Hatter’s tea and The House in the Cerulean Sea, an enchanting, queer fantasy novel that has all the whimsy and magic of Wonderland. Linus Baker, a social worker at the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, lives a quiet life, happy in his small house with his cat. Until one day he is given a super secret assignment, to meet six extraordinary and highly dangerous children living at a remote orphanage. Tasked with keeping humanity safe, Linus soon finds himself rooting for his wards and their charming guardian, and doing whatever he can to keep them safe from harm.