Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: Down the Rabbit-Hole

What this book practices

A shortened adaptation, in new words, of the first three chapters of Lewis Carroll's 1865 book: the fall, the hall of doors, growing and shrinking, the pool of tears and the Caucus race. Full of logic puzzles and wordplay, with new jokes in the spirit of the original.

Level

Chapter book: Six chapters, about 165 words on a page

Themes

Classic, Humor, Adventure

After the story

A short activity checks understanding, then a prompt to tell a grown-up about the book.

Levels are PlayOwl's own design guidelines for each grade, not a certified reading level. In I'll Read, PlayOwl records that a child turned every page; it cannot hear whether the words were read.

Credit and rights

Adapted and shortened by PlayOwl from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865). Source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865).

The words are new PlayOwl writing that follows a story in the public domain. PlayOwl claims no rights in the underlying story.

Adaptation

Follows the events of the first three chapters (the fall down the rabbit hole, the hall of doors, the growing and shrinking, the pool of tears and the Caucus race) of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, first published in 1865. The story is shortened and told in new sentences. Carroll's poems and his history lecture are left out and replaced by new PlayOwl nonsense. No edition, abridgement, film or illustrated version was copied; only the events, the characters and three very short phrases come from the original. Public domain. In the United States, copyright in works published before 1929 has expired, and this work was first published in 1865. In countries where copyright lasts for the author's life plus 70 years, the term ended on 31 December 1968, because Lewis Carroll died in 1898. PlayOwl claims no rights in the underlying story.

Cover

Drawn in code for PlayOwl in 2026 with the Read with Olly illustration kit. An original design, not based on the cover or pictures of any edition or film. Original work owned by PlayOwl.

Illustrations

Drawn in code for PlayOwl in 2026 with the Read with Olly illustration kit, from the picture briefs in this file. Alice, the White Rabbit and the other characters are PlayOwl's own designs. They are not based on John Tenniel's pictures, on any other edition or on any film. Original work owned by PlayOwl.

Narration

Spoken by the reader's own device voice. PlayOwl ships no recording. No recorded work exists.

Text

Written for PlayOwl in 2026 as a new, shortened adaptation of the first three chapters (the fall down the rabbit hole, the hall of doors, the growing and shrinking, the pool of tears and the Caucus race) of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Every sentence is new PlayOwl wording, apart from three very short phrases kept from Carroll: "Curiouser and curiouser" and the labels "Drink Me" and "Eat Me". The tale and tail joke is retold in new sentences; none of Carroll's verses is used, and most of the jokes are new. Original wording owned by PlayOwl. The underlying story is in the public domain (see the adaptation record).