This week’s Pet Society theme is Alice in Wonderland, and I thought I’d make a post on the book and related films.
Have any of you read the book by Lewis Carroll? If you haven’t, you can read Alice online at Project Gutenberg. I haven’t read it in some time, so I think I’ll give the electronic text a re-read. 
I love the original illustrations by Sir John Tenniel. You can see some of Tenniel’s artwork here. Here’s his engraving of the Cheshire Cat from 1866 (posted by cygnoir on Flickr):
Pet Society introduced a Cheshire Cat to the shops this week. You might not have noticed that if you turn the lights out, the Cheshire Cat will glow. Thanks to Ramlah, Ebola, and Tara for pointing this out in the comments. I think I would have missed this if not for you two!
In Walt Disney’s Alice in Wonderland (1951), the Cheshire Cat didn’t glow like Pet Society’s Cheshire Cat. The 1951 version of the cat had the ability to appear and vanish (as in the novel). Disney’s Cheshire Cat’s grin disappeared the last of all. Here’s a clip from the animated film. I love it when he says, “You may have noticed that I’m not all there myself.”
Lastly, are you looking forward to the Tim Burton adaptation next March? I’m looking forward to it as I do all of Burton’s films.
