A Very Merry (Un) Birthday Alice!

My favorite picture of Alice Liddell...looks
like she is ready for an adventure!

In the past week two Alice's I know celebrated a birthday.  The first was my ridiculously adorable niece Alice.  She turned two and is all sorts of wonderful.  The other is the Alice who made her way through Wonderland and eventually found her way to this blog.  Plenty of adventures for that one too!

The latter turned 150 years old this week.  (Read a great article with pictures of the original Alice here.) It was on July 4, 1862 that Lewis Carroll, whose real name was Charles Dodgson, met 10 year old Alice Liddell on a boat ride with friends.  He told Alice and her sisters a story and used Alice as the girl in the story.  Apparently it was a hit and young Alice asked him to write down the story so she could have it. A few years later the book was published and we all joined Alice on her journey through wonderland.

Mary Blair's illustration of Alice

Alice spin-offs are everywhere.  I personally own four copies of the story, including one a friend bought me from a flea market in Germany, and plan on collecting as many as I can.  Recently, Jon Scieszka and Mary Blair did a new version of Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland.  I haven't had a chance to pick that one up but it is at the top of the list!  For those of you who love pop-up books, there's a version for that as well! I LOVE this subway map of Wonderland, and thanks to BrainPickings.com for being just as obsessed with Alice as I am!

One of my most recent discoveries is The Story Museum in Oxford, UK.  By the looks of it, this place is very similar to what I imagine for my own bookstore, other than the fact that it isn't a bookstore.  Taken from their website, the mission is, "The Story Museum exists to celebrate children's stories and to share 1001 enjoyable ways for young people to learn through stories as they grow." As of right now they are a non-profit running programs for schools, children, and families.  However, they are trying to secure a permanent home by 2014.  They want to be a home for stories and storytelling and persuade adults just how important stories are.  Be still my heart!  From their vision statement, "We believe that stories are essential for children's intellectual and emotional development so we aim to develop a story-rich society in which children can enjoy a wide variety of stories as they grow." Reading through the rest of their mission, the purpose behind why they started, and the plans for their future...well, it seems we both want to jump down the same rabbit hole!  This weekend they will celebrate "Alice's Day" as they do every year.  Hmm, I wonder if I can get a last minute flight to Oxford...

Happy birthday Alice!