Looking Glass Girl
 | |
| Author | Cathy Cassidy |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's novel |
| Publisher | Puffin |
Publication date | 2 April 2015 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (hardback, Ebook & paperback) and audiobook |
| Pages | 272 |
| ISBN | 978-0141357836 |
Looking Glass Girl is a 2015 children's novel written by English novelist Cathy Cassidy. It is a modern retelling of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and was written for its 150th-year anniversary. Cassidy considered the novel to be one of her darker books and she explained that she had been inspired by Carroll's work and how the character of Alice did not know what was going on, which she compared to her teenage years. The plot of Looking Glass Girl centres around 13-year-old Alice, who is in a coma after she is involved in an accident at a sleepover. Whilst in the coma, she dreams that she is in Wonderland. The plot switches from the events leading up to the accident, Alice's dreams in Wonderland and the reactions of the people around Alice whilst she is in a coma. The novel received generally positive reviews.
Premise
[edit]Eleven-year-old Alice is surprised when her popular schoolmate Savvy invites her to her Alice in Wonderland-themed sleepover with other girls and initially contemplates not going.[1] At the sleepover, Alice ends up getting in an accident and hitting her head on a mirror. Alice is rushed to hospital and remains in a coma, with the people around her – including her family, the girls at the sleepover and Luke, Alice's friend who she kissed – dealing with what happened. In the coma, Alice dreams that she is in Wonderland, whilst the rest of the novels deals with the events leading up to Alice's accident.[2][3][4]
Background and release
[edit]
The book is a modern re-telling of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.[5] Looking Glass Girl author Cathy Cassidy first read the novel as a library book as an eight or nine-year-old child and she later tried to find the exact edition as an adult, which she was unable to do, though she believed that she had some "beautiful versions" of it.[5] Cassidy loved the main character of Alice and considered her a bit of a "style icon" and believed that it was where a lot of her looks subconsciously came from.[5] Cassidy explained, "I was hooked on Alice's style from the very start...I wanted to be Alice, in that cool sticky-out dress and hooped tights, the little-girl shoes and the wavy hair".[6] As a child, Cassidy considered Alice to be "curious, brave and a little lost", and she liked that Alice did not have all the answers.[6] When Cassidy re-read the book as an adult, she considered it to be a "darker story, a surreal, nightmarish adventure that disturbed and unsettled", which intrigued her.[6] Cassidy compared Alice's struggle of not know what is going on to her teenage years, where she struggled to fit in with her peers, admitting, "Adolescence was not so much a Wonderland as a nightmare for me".[6]
Looking Glass Girl was published to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.[7] Cassidy considered Looking Glass Girl to be darker than some of the other books that she written, but she enjoyed writing it and linking it back to the character of Alice.[5] In the plot, 11-year-old Alice finds herself in Carroll's world.[8] The plot switches from Alice being in Wonderland, the events lead up to her accident and the reactions of lives of those around her whilst she is in hospital.[3][4] The book deals with the themes of friendship, love and bullying.[9] [2] The novel was released on 2 April 2015.[10] Cassidy launched the book at Coventry Central Library, which she chose in order to highlight the threat of 17 libraries in Coventry closing due to cuts from Coventry City Council.[8] Cassidy believed in the importance of libraries, calling them "entitlements" rather than "luxuries".[8] Sorrelle Clements, the learning development manager of Coventry Libraries, compared Cassidy's visit to a "premier league footballer" visiting and believed that she was inspirational to show young people what a "Coventry girl" can achieve.[8] Cassidy later read extracts of the book at the "Book Nook", a reading centre that she opened at West Kirby Grammar School.[11]
Reception
[edit]A reader writing for The Guardian rated the book "four and a half out of five" and said that they would read it again, believing that Cassidy did an "amazing job weaving in literal and metaphorical links" between her story and Carroll's.[3] They added that they were "hooked" from the first page, but would have preferred more detail of what was happening in Wonderland.[3] Another reader from the same website rated the book 5 stars and called it their favourites of Cassidy's works, and believed that the story had "advice woven between the words like thread" and that readers could learn things from it.[4] They added that the book "makes you move to the edge of your seat" and showed the importance of friendship.[4] Julia Eccleshare from The Guardian put the novel on her list of the best retellings and sequels of classic children's books and noted that the story highlighted friendship and the "insidious nature of bullying".[2] She also opined that the "realistic" story had "drawn on some of the ideas" of Carroll's original book.[2] The book had an average rating of 5 out 5 stars on the Summer Reading Challenge website.[12] Books for Keeps rated the book 3 out of 5 stars, with a writer from the website calling the book a "tale of jealousy, loneliness and spite" and a "soap opera of a read".[13] They called the dialogue "banal and repetitious" and believed that it made the reading tedious, and criticised other elements of the plot.[13] The writer also questioned why Alice would want to be friends with Savvy and opined that Alice was worth more than that and believed that there was a "believable sexual element" between Alice and Luke.[13] Sophie de Rosée from The Daily Telegraph wrote that Cassidy provided a "fresh perspective" of Carroll's original story.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ "Looking-Glass Girl". Cathy Cassidy. Penguin Random House. Archived from the original on 27 April 2025. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
- ^ a b c d Eccleshare, Julia (20 July 2015). "What are the best retellings and sequels of classic books for kids?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 27 April 2025. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
- ^ a b c d "Looking Glass Girl by Cathy Cassidy – review". The Guardian. 8 September 2015. Archived from the original on 27 April 2025. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
- ^ a b c d "Looking-Glass Girl by Cathy Cassidy - review". The Guardian. 15 February 2015. Archived from the original on 27 April 2025. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
- ^ a b c d Si N Ranscombe (17 April 2015). "Cathy Cassidy: 'There is a huge responsibility in being an agony aunt'". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 27 April 2025. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
- ^ a b c d Cathy Cassidy (12 May 2015). "My inspiration: Cathy Cassidy on Alice in Wonderland". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 27 April 2025. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
- ^ a b Sophie de Rosée (30 May 2015). "150 years later and we are still all about Alice". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 27 April 2025. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
- ^ a b c d Lynch, Lucy (3 April 2015). "Top children's writer Cathy Cassidy launches new book in Coventry". Coventry Telegraph. Reach plc. Archived from the original on 27 April 2025. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
- ^ "Looking Glass Girl". Penguin Books. 4 February 2016. Archived from the original on 27 April 2025. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
- ^ "Looking Glass Girl". Scholastic. Archived from the original on 27 April 2025. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
- ^ "Teen Queen Cathy launches Book Nook". Liverpool Echo. Reach plc. 2 June 2015. Archived from the original on 3 January 2024. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
- ^ "Looking Glass Girl". Summer Reading Challenge. Archived from the original on 27 April 2025. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
- ^ a b c "Looking-Glass Girl". Books for Keeps. Archived from the original on 27 April 2025. Retrieved 27 April 2025.