Jabberwocky

A fantastic telling of Carroll's poem about the ferocious Jabberwocky with beautiful illustrations by Base. I love this poem because it is nonsensical, funny, and just a little scary. I think Base's illustrations evaluate the poem, and make it a fun read for any poetry lover.

This book is a great one for encouraging students to try their own creative writing or maybe making up their own words. The illustrations in the book help the poem make more sense, which is great. I'd definitely use this in my classroom.

Fantastic art brings this classic poem to life. I want this book in my personal collection. A great book for reading aloud.

I am sure this would be a great book for a unit on Poetry especially Lewis Carroll. It is a very interesting perspective of Carroll's poetry.

This was such a fun read for the kids, and the illustrations were great! Cool take on a classic poem!

This is an interesting book that looks at Lewis Carroll's famous peom, Jabberwocky, from a new perspective: basketball. The illustrations of this book are quite appealing but I am not a huge fan of the interpretation of this beloved non-sensical poem.

Jabberwocky is, of course, one of the really great nonsense poems in the English language, and Stephane Jorisch's visual treatment of the poem is something highly original. I'm not sure that all of the artist's interpretations of the writer's source material are in any way true to Lewis Carroll's

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intent (whatever that may have been), but nonetheless, this is an entertaining and thought-provoking way to re-visit a certified literary classic.

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This is a classic Lewis Carroll poem about the mythical Wonderland monster The Jabberwocky and how it was sleighed.

Being a Lewis Carroll fan myself I jumped at the opportunity to read and review this poem! While I have read it within the pages of Through the Looking Glass it is much better to read

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as a stand-alone poem. The pictures add to the colorful nonsensical language with even more obscure creatures to find within the pages. If you are looking for a poem to be silly with, this is it!

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This picture book was so effective because of the colorful and modern illustrations. Had it not been for the illustrations, I might not have followed this classic poem so well. This book would work so well in poetry analysis for high school students, because illustrations that are relevant to high

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school students would make the study of poety far more enjoyable.

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Jabberwocky is a nonsense or portmanteau poem that originally appeared in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There. This version, from the Visions of Poetry series, is an adaptation of the poem and is illustrated by Stephane Jorisch.The illustrations; grim and

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Orwellian -like, cater to the highly imaginative language of the portmanteau style.

After reading Jabberwocky I was very perplexed and confused, thinking “what was this”? Fortunately, any answer will suffice for the lot of mixed imagery and made up words featured in this book. The portmanteau style of poetry lends itself to open and imaginative interpretations like no other style of poetry. Thus, this book can be anything to anyone, which I believe truly serves the purpose of the nonsense style. This book displays the power of individual perception, through its illustrations and its artistic improvisation of the original text.

The Visions of Poetry series are adaptations of classic poems and are illustrated by contemporary artists, for readers ten and up. After skimming through other titles in the series like Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven and Alfred Noyes The Highwaymen, it is apparent that The Visions of Poetry series are consistent in their unique visual adaptation of classic poems.

Awards: Governor General's Literary Award (Children's Literature-Illustration, 2004) Stéphane Jorisch, illustrator.

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Summary: This book is a re-imagined version of Through the Looking-Glass, and what Alice Found There. The original is by Lewis Carroll and recreated by Christopher Myers. This is a poetry collection that is filled with meaningful jibberish. There may be a lot of words in this book you cannot find

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in the dictionary, but the context allows you to understand them.
Review: The illustrations by this Caldecott winning artist are very good. The basketball analogies in this book fit perfectly with the illustrations. I like the skewed body proportions in the art style here.
School Use: This would be another book that I would put in a collection that students could check out.

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Brilliant color illustration of the classic poem reimagines the location of the battle with the Jabberwock as a basketball court in a playground. The author's "Short note on the origins of this book" at the end explains that Charles Dodson may have been thinking of the ancient Mesoamerican game

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played with a rubber ball and a hoop on a wall.

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a favorite poem accompanied beautifully with new illustrations

I had to read this one through a few times, but the illustrations really helped me to get an understanding of what was going on. I love that it is up for interpretation and could be shown visually in many different ways. Carroll is a classic, and this poem is nothing less.

Jabberwocky is, of course, one of the better-known narrative poems of the English language.

The artwork in this book is wonderful, placing the poem on a basketball court dominated by a monstrous, many-fingered giant. I don't know why I like it, but I really do.

A nonsense poem about scary monsters and fierce heroes. The art work is modern and has a sports theme.

Another of the poems my dad would recite with us,and because the words sound dangerous the poem is an adventure!

The nonsensical nature of this poem appeals to my childish side.

These images haunt me. There’s so much implied violence, and the female characters exude a discordant sexuality. The “hero” is clearly hesitant; he’s both frightened and somehow furious, I think. This version of Jabberwocky comes from the same plane as a David Lynch film, and it is likewise

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beautiful and terrifying. Surreal and drenched with fascination.

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This is a very old poem that I have come across a few times. I would love to read this book to a class but I am not to sure on some of the pronunciations. I would need to take a small class of my own to be able to say the phrases correctly so the poem will come across the right way.

I don't get this poem, but hey, it's supposed to be nonsense. That's fine by me. The illustrations are cool, but that's what Graeme Base can do. This is an interesting book, even if the Jabberwocky is a baffling poem.

Age 6-12

Who’s calling Lewis Carroll old-fashioned? Jabberwocky harnesses a storm of color to bring the classic Alice through the Looking-Glass poem to modern readers. Sports fans will find this picture book hard to resist.

Myers uses crimson, orange, jade, teal and indigo to evoke the heat and

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drama of long summer days in the city. The wabe and borogoves are set amidst spraying fire hydrants and sidewalk games. The Jabberwock is the frightenly-fingered, towering terror of the basketball court. Our hero, a young challenger who must use skill and courage to win the day.

Children and even adults may feel intimidated by the nonsense words. Explaining that nonsense words are fun and made-up, and reading them with silliness, will create an enthusiastic audience. Highlighted text helps the reader with emphasis.

Illustrations also aid in interpreting the nonsense words. The “vorpal blade in hand,” for example, references the hero holding his sneakers. Listeners will make you pause on dual page spreads where the hero leaps and dashes to escape the stretching Jabberwock fingers.

Wondering about the connection between “Jabberwocky” and basketball? Read the author’s note to learn about the ancient Aztec game the that inspired Carroll’s poem. Highly recommended.

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A classic nonsense poem gets updated in this picture book with new, stylized illustrations of a one-on-one basketball game. While it might seem unusual to find this poem from the Alice books in a sports context, Myers includes back matter to justify his choice. Apparently Carroll mentioned the name

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of an Aztec sport that inspired basketball in the margins of the original text for Jabberwocky, so Myers expanded upon that idea in this version.

Myers’s vibrant, almost abstract paintings of fierce basketball players differ greatly from the original black and white drawing by John Tenniel. The new version of the Jabberwock, who is extremely tall and has glowing eyes and extra fingers, is just as vicious as the original but in a completely different way.

This updated classic would be good to use after introducing the original version of the poem. Side-by-side, they could illustrate the concept of literary adaptations. Middle school readers would be able to not get bogged down in the nonsense and appreciate the update on the classic. It may also be a text that would open the world of poetry to a reluctant male audience. This unique version makes Jabberwocky relatable for a new generation.

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The version I read had illustrations from "The Disney Archives," presumably from the Alice in Wonderland movie. Not impressed.