Due to a passing in the family a few years ago and my subsequent health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for years after the bereavement. Thank you for the opportunity.

I would like to thank netgalley and Pan Macmillan for a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Too twee

My thanks to Pan Macmillan/Macmillan Children’s Books for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Return to Wonderland’ in exchange for an honest review.

This collection of eleven short stories inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice was a delight from start to finish. Full marks to its editor(s) and the authors who collectively made this a worthy companion volume to the Alice books. It clearly has been created with love and respect by Macmillan as part of their ‘The Macmillan Alice’ collection.

The collection was whimsical, surrealistic and very much in keeping with the spirit of the original books. Each story begins with a short introduction by its author telling of their individual connection to the Alice books and why they elected to write the story they did.

All eleven stories were fresh and quite brilliant as each focused on supporting characters including the Mock Turtle, Caterpillar, and Cheshire Cat among others. The Queen of Hearts featured in a few. However, I will give a brief shoutout to ‘Plum Cakes at Dawn Or, What Happened When the Dormouse Went to Night Court’ by Lauren St John for its subtle ecological message.

Seeing how beautifully presented the hardback edition was I bought my own copy. In this each story is prefaced by an illustration by Laura Barrett done in a striking black silhouette style. She also created the beautifully detailed cover art.

While this is a children’s book suggested as suitable for readers aged 9-12, I feel that it is a book that every lover of the Alice stories will treasure.

Highly recommended.

It is the perfect companion to the original stories and a wonderful addition to any fan of the world of Alice.

Stories inspired by Alice: clever, fitting and utterly delightful collection.

With introductions from each of the ten contemporary authors, explaining their own connection to Alice, we are treated to an assortment of stories, each centring round a character from Carroll's famous children's novel.

Their styles all complement the original, the nonsense and language very fitting, though some take place before Alice comes to Wonderland, some after, some tangential to it.

I couldn't identify a weak one among them, they were all rather fascinating and felt as though they could form a body of work alongside their inspiration.

From the Nurse's Pig Baby's origins, to the Queen (and King) of Hearts, we have the hilarious tale of what happens when the Hatter decides to be sensible, and what might have happened in Wonderland after Alice makes it a bit of a tourist hotspot.

It will make much more sense to readers who have enjoyed Carroll's book first, offering insight and a look at a world we've all 'wondered' about ourselves at some point.

A fantastic idea, and makes you want to reread the original. Which is what I'm currently now doing with my 8-year-old. A varied and riotously funny collection from a talented group of children's/YA writers.

One for adults who remember a childhood containing Alice, but for children who've also discovered her as well, ages 9/10 and above.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample reading copy.

Short stories featuring some of the characters and places immortalised in Lewis Carroll's classic. There's a great range here; whoever your favourite character is, you're bound to find something about them. The tone matches the original beautifully, and there are several new authors on my watch list now!

A great read for anyone who loved Alice or enjoys retellings.

I'll start off this review with a confession; I've never read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (I've had a copy since I was about 9...it's still on the TBR, although I've read bits!). Alice in Wonderland isn't even in my top 20 Disney films. That said, I've been very excited about reading Return to Wonderland; some of my favourite children's authors have contributed short stories to this collection and I couldn't resist finally immersing myself in Wonderland! 

I really enjoyed this book; I love how each author's unique style of writing and voice came through in their stories, and how even for authors I've not read before I could pick out what makes people love their writing. The introductory paragraph at the beginning of each story was a really nice touch to introduce you to the author and their story.

Onto the stories themselves; they were magical and wonderful and completely bizarre! The thing that I loved about having modern day authors contributing was that their writing really brought Wonderland to life and in a way that didn't, for me, come across as stuffy or dated, but at the same time they stayed fairly true to Lewis Carroll's original.

I'd definitely recommend this book as a brilliant introduction to Wonderland and to classic children's literature; I think that if I'd read this when I was a child I would've been keen to go on to read the original story that it follows on from! It's amazing that 150 years on from the original, people are still reading about Wonderland and this book is a brilliant addition to that world.

As a long-time lover of Wonderland and someone who has written multiple academic essays on Carroll’s original texts, I couldn’t resist this when I saw it come up for review! What a joy to see some much loved authors reimagine what might have come next.

As with all short story collections, there were some stories I connected to more than others. Robin Stevens, Swapna Haddow and Patrice Lawrence in particular stand out as favourites. But there is something for everyone in here and it’s bound to delight new and old readers alike. I think this would be perfect for sharing with newbies to Wonderland, opening up conversations about the original books and introducing readers to some new authors writing today.

Now to reread the original, me thinks!

What would happen in a Wonderland without Alice? Judging by this short story collection, an awful lot!
Featuring 11 stories from a stellar array of children's authors, all of Wonderland's favourite characters are featured. Find out how the Cheshire Cat got his grin, take a look into the lives of the Queen of Hearts croquet balls, discover the secrets of being an excellent librarian from the Mock Turtle and witness just how terrible life could be if the Mad Hatter were, the horror, sensible!
There's something in this collection for every reader, but this one particularly enjoyed the stories by Maz Evans, Patrice Lawrence and Swapna Haddow all of which had me grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

This was an utterly entertaining, hilarious and enjoyable read of the 11 short stories that have been written by eleven children's authors with the prompt of, What happened after Alice left Wonderland.

The stories that have come together in this short story collection by pan macmillan are entertaining, focus each on one or several different characters from the original stories by Lewis Carroll and give them each new twists and turns. They play around with words as well as with the whimsicalness and the nonsense of the original stories.

It is a long time since I laughed and chuckled as much whilst reading a book as when I read Return to Wonderland. And, should I ever need a story to brighten my day, I know now where to certainly find a story that does exactly that.

What I also loved is the short introduction each author gives with her/his personal relationship to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and how it came a certain character was chosen for the short story written.

I am already looking forward to meet the book in print once it is out end of June. In addition to its fabulous content, it also comes with a beautiful book cover.

I received an eArc from the publisher via Netgalley UK in return for an honest review.

In this collection of stories (written by - hang on, deep breath time! - Peter Bunzl, Pamela Butchart, Maz Evans, Swapna Haddow, Patrice Lawrence, Chris Smith, Robin Stevens, Lauren St John, Lisa Thompson, Piers Torday and Amy Wilson), we return to Wonderland and we ask, what happens in Wonderland without Alice? And the stories answer questions such as why does the Cheshire Cat grin so, has anyone barring Alice ever visited Wonderland, will the Mad Hatter ever host a sensible tea party and other questions…

This isn’t going to be long blog post/review/reaction. Sorry everyone, but I had such a blast reading this. I read this within four days and, if I had more time on my hands (and not had to do real life things, such as sleep, go to work, drive places, etc), I would have read this so much faster. All of the stories within these were delightful and a joy.

There was one or two I feel that could easily be turned into much longer stories/novellas (Ina Out of Wonderland by Robin Stevens and The Knave of Hearts by Lisa Thompson), and others that were perfectly compacted (Patrice Lawerence’s Roll of Honour).

I did like the stories, but there are a few I didn’t warm to as quickly as the others. But, with any collection of short stories, this will happen so I wasn’t too worried. Plus, it was nice to read stories from authors I have never heard of before and have made mental notes to check out.

But I think young fans of Alice in Wonderland will enjoy reading this collection of middle-grade tales. I do hope we have another collection similar to this in the near future, either from Wonderland or maybe Oz…

It’s been a while – a long while- since I’ve read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, but I still have fond memories of the madcap characters and quirkiness of the world created by Carroll. And I guess these eleven authors do too! For me, this fabulously written anthology takes me on a trip down memory lane, a nostalgic return to my childhood, but I think it will also be enjoyed as an anthology of incredibly imaginative stories by younger readers in its own right, and perhaps encourage them to explore Wonderland for the first time.
I have read and enjoyed books by many of these authors and could definitely see how they bring their own style when re-imagining their favourite experiences/characters from Wonderland. Each of these stories has perfectly captured the surrealistic eccentricity of Wonderland; the creativity each writer brought to their story leaps off the pages. I also really liked how each author introduced their story with their own recollections of how they were influenced by Carroll’s story which was a perfect lead-in to each story.
These stories encourage the reader to tumble down the rabbit hole and wander into the curious world of Wonderland to encounter some of the most glorious, and most peculiar, characters: the Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter, the Mock Turtle, the Cheshire Cat and the Knave of Hearts to name but a few, with Alice wandering through many of the stories.
I loved how the stories paid homage to many of the more famous elements of Wonderland such as the Queen of Heart’s obsession with croquet, the Mad Hatter’s tea party and the wisdom of the Caterpillar whilst exploring the untold stories, the ‘what happened next?’ and the ‘what ifs?’ of some of the most memorable characters.
Each and every one of these stories is a real delight! This will be a collection of stories which will be treasured by both old, and new, fans of Wonderland.
Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for an e-ARC of this book.

Having grown up with the Alice stories, losing myself in Wonderland and enjoying the Mad Hatter’s endless tea parties I was thrilled to see them brought to life in a new way.
This collection of stories will bring you back to Wonderland, re-introduce you to your favourite characters and give you new perspectives on it all.

11 significant and stellar authors have come together to help us “Return to Wonderland”!
They have created mini masterpieces and I thoroughly enjoyed each one.

We learn from Patrice Lawrence, all about the hedgehogs and an old nemesis in the flamingo mallets. We visit a library with 7 books, and a missing book with Swapna Haddow, and Piers Torday helps us to find out how the Cheshire Cat got the smile he is so famous for!

There is so much to enjoy in these stories and they are so in keeping with Lewis Carroll’s original story that it feels an extension on Wonderland.

I feel this will give Alice in Wonderland a new boost with younger generations coming to read and love the stories as much as these authors did.

I particularly liked how each author introduced their story with how Alice formed a part of their reading history. It was fascinating and insightful and on many occasions I could totally relate to their experiences.

This is a wonderful book and I can see it being enjoyed in schools and homes across the country.

Loved it!