I think publication order is the way to go, but honestly? I enjoyed 'Through the Looking-Glass' a lot more than the first book. The chessboard structure and characters like the Jabberwocky just clicked for me. Some people say you could almost read them independently, but the second book does assume you know who Alice is.
If you're including the poems, 'Jabberwocky' is in Looking-Glass, and 'The Hunting of the Snark' is a separate nonsense poem that's kind of a companion piece. I read Snark after the two main novels and it felt like a fun extra dessert.
Actually, Lewis Carroll only wrote two books: 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' and 'Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There'. Everything else is by other authors or compilations. So, the only real 'order' is to read those two, and in the order they were published. Wonderland first, Looking-Glass second.
That said, if you're diving into the extended universe—like the 'Looking Glass Wars' series by Frank Beddor or Christina Henry's 'Chronicles of Alice'—those are totally separate modern reimaginings. I'd finish Carroll's originals first to get the references, then jump into whatever spinoff catches your eye. My local library had a collection called 'The Annotated Alice' with amazing footnotes that made the Victorian jokes make sense, which was a game-changer for me.
Read 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland', then 'Through the Looking-Glass'. Stop there unless you're a completionist. The later stuff, like 'Alice's Adventures Under Ground' (his early manuscript), is for superfans. The original two are a perfect, weird pair.
2026-07-09 18:19:18
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If you mean Lewis Carroll's original 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' and its sequel 'Through the Looking-Glass', they're honestly two very distinct moods for me. The first book feels more chaotic and dreamlike; Alice falls down the rabbit hole into a world where the rules keep shifting. It's packed with those iconic moments like the Mad Tea-Party and the Queen of Hearts screaming 'Off with her head!' The sequel, where she steps through the mirror, has a different structure—it's framed as a chess game, and the nonsense feels more mathematical and puzzlesome, with characters like Tweedledee and Tweedledum and the poem 'Jabberwocky.'
Some readers find 'Looking-Glass' a bit colder or more intellectually playful compared to the raw, bewildering wonder of the first. The tone shift is noticeable; Wonderland is impulsive, while the Looking-Glass world often feels preordained, like a sequence of moves. I've always been more attached to the first book's sheer anarchy, but the sequel has a haunting, logical beauty that grows on you with rereads.
The thing I discovered while falling down this particular rabbit hole is that 'Alice in Wonderland' isn't a series per se. Lewis Carroll published two books: 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' first, and then its sort-of sequel, 'Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There'. That's the strict publication order. Some editions, especially older ones, will bind them together as one volume.
Honestly, the Looking-Glass feels like a companion piece more than a direct continuation. The tone's a bit more melancholy, the logic puzzles are even weirder, and it ends on a note that's stuck with me ever since I was a kid—that whole 'life, what is it but a dream?' line. I'd suggest reading Wonderland first simply because it introduces the core nonsense. After Wonderland's chaotic tea party and trial, Looking-Glass's structured chessboard game lands differently.
There's also a ton of spin-offs and retellings, but for the original texts by Carroll, it's just those two. Don't overcomplicate it; start at the beginning and see where you end up.