Mrs. White Rabbit

Gr 1–4—It seems wholly appropriate that a picture book based on a character from the odd world of Lewis Carroll's Alice would be mighty curious itself. Written in the form of a diary by the wife of the White Rabbit, who is always late—as it turns out, for some pretty sordid reasons—the story relays the trials and tribulations of Mrs. Rabbit's days. In very adult and sophisticated language, she tells of her utter unhappiness with her life in a household that includes a teenage daughter who appears to border on anorexic in her efforts to become a bunny model, twin boys who play marbles with their own scat, and a young lad who is precociously interested in girls. The jokes are largely adult: for example, the White Rabbit is a drunkard who needs to be fetched from the palace in a wheelbarrow. The illustrations are fantastic, with incredible detail, but much of the humor will be appreciated only by those who know the Alice stories. Readers who haven't been previously exposed to the tales will likely be confused and put off by the dolorous tone of the text.