Without the curiosity, fantasy, and downright silliness of the Alice books, children's literature might not have branched out into the world of the imagination. While other Victorian books for children – like Tom Brown's Schooldays and the works of Mary Louisa Molesworth and Mary Martha Sherwood – gave rules for living, these books simply provided space in which to live. The result was a style of writing that simultaneously embraced nonsense and logic. Books that simply created imaginative worlds in which children could let their minds roam free. In fact, these books inaugurated a new era of children's literature in English: books that didn't have to be didactic or moralistic, that didn't teach children lessons. Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, are two of the most famous nineteenth-century children's fantasy novels. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass Introduction
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