Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is about a girl called Alice who goes on an adventure to a place called Wonderland. Alice is sitting with her sister one day, contemplating making a daisy chain and feeling sleepy. When a white rabbit runs past her, he’s dressed in a waistcoat and looking at his pocket watch. The rabbit starts talking to himself and saying that he will be late before jumping down a rabbit hole. Alice thinks she’s never seen a rabbit-like this before, and it’s very curious.
So she jumps down the rabbit hole after him and into the place called Wonderland. Once she’s in Wonderland, Alice meets all creatures who can talk to her. She meets Mad Hatter’s at a never-ending Tea Party, the Queen of Hearts, and a very aloof Cheshire cat who keeps grinning at her. There are lots of editions of this book available.
For those of you who don’t know, Lewis Carroll is a pen name for a man called Charles Dodgson, who was a mathematician. There are two Alice novels in the series: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Alice Through The Looking Glass. If you want to read classic fantasy books like Alice in Wonderland, follow me!
10 Books Like Alice In Wonderland (Children’s Classic Fantasy)
Everyone wants a magical solution to the problem, but they refuse to believe in magic. I’m recommending magical books. That is books that have magic or are based on magical settings. I promise that you’ll be taken to a faraway place if you read these books. But when you come back to reality, you will have something new to take with you everywhere. Magical books change the way you see the world because reality is drab most of the time, and magical books show you things can be different.
After reading, Alice In Wonderland, I’ve fallen in love with this story and am in love with Alice’s character. She is a curious and intelligent child. It’s whimsical, nonsensical, and a classical children’s book. I will review 10 fantasy books similar to Alice In Wonderland. So without any further ado, let’s get started!
1. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
This is the perfect book to read as an adult with young kids because you can see your children in this book. Even though it is a classic and everybody thinks they know it’s about if you’ve seen the movie. But I would highly recommend reading the books. They’re fast reads and a lot of fun. This book embodies childhood imagination. The entire thing is pure childhood invention at its finest. So it takes me back to when I was a kid and how I could spend hours making up worlds and living in those worlds.
In Alice’s Wonderland, it’s a nonsense world, and nothing makes sense. Through the looking glass is the same thing. She climbs through a looking glass, and shenanigans ensue, and everything’s backward and topsy turvy. The animated Disney movie combines elements from both of these stories. It was so fun to read the stories that inspired the movie that I have loved since I was a kid. Moreover, it was a big nostalgia trip, honestly, through the whole thing. If you like Alice In Wonderland, you must pick it.
Author: Lewis Carroll
Average Customer Review: (4.6 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Humorous Fantasy
Number Of Pages: 272
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Mass Market Paperback
2. Keeper of the Lost Cities
This series has an epic fantasy feel where there’s this big world that you’re getting introduced to and many people. So each book, you’re getting more characters, more absorbed into this world. The story is about a young girl named Sophie. She’s 12 at the beginning of the series, and she thinks she’s an average human. It is because she can hear people’s thoughts like she is telepathic. It makes her hard because she’s getting bombarded by people’s thoughts.
One day Sophie meets a boy that tells her that she’s not human. There’s a reason why she can hear everybody’s thoughts. So she gets swept into this new world and introduced to all these different abilities. If you’re somebody who liked Alice In Wonderland and Harry Potter, this is the series.
Author: Shannon Messenger
Average Customer Review: (4.9 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Children’s Fantasy & Magic Books
Number Of Pages: 3136 (Full Series)
Available: Paperback | Hardcover
3. Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster
This one is historical fantasy fiction. It takes place in Victorian London and follows a young girl (Nan Sparrow) who is a chimney sweep. So we learn all the historical facts that are true about how horrible it was for these young children who were chimney sweeps and risked their lives climbing through chimneys.
You get all of that back story about the hardship of their lives which is similar to Alice In Wonderland. But then there’s also fantasy and the fact that she becomes friends with this golem. So it’s a good story about friendship, but then also introduces you to a whole world of hardships that used to happen to children.
Author: Jonathan Auxier
Average Customer Review: (4.8 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: European Historical Fiction
Number Of Pages: 368
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Audio CD
4. The One and Only Ivan
It’s based on a true story. We’re following in the mind of a gorilla. All of his friends are animals, but they talk to each other. So it is classic fantasy, but it also could be considered contemporary with some fantastical elements. But anyway, we’re following this gorilla named Ivan and hearing it from his point of view. So people might find it weird to read because it is written like a gorilla, which sounds silly, but it has short choppy sentences.
We’re in Ivan’s head, but Ivan lives at a zoo enclosure, and he has other friends. Like Alice In Wonderland, it’s a story about his daily life and the hope for a better life. So this was such a heartwarming story. I laughed out loud and thought it was funny, but it was also sad and touching. I recommend this is a fast read.
Author: Katherine Applegate
Average Customer Review: (4.8 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Zoo Fiction
Number Of Pages: 336
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle
5. The Forbidden Library
It is about a young girl (Alice) whose father has disappeared. So she is sent to live with an uncle figure. He lives in this giant mansion by himself and has a library outback. Also, he has told her that she can go anywhere in the mansion, but she’s forbidden to go to the library. As a curious young girl, Alice decides to go check out the library and finds a whole world inside this library. Moreover, she wants to discover the people who can read themselves into stories.
I enjoyed the fantastical elements of this and its being centered around books and a library. There’s also a talking cat-like Alice In Wonderland on the cover. That becomes her friend, and that’s a trope. Middle-grade fantasy has a lot of conveniences. Things will progress, and they will get out of certain situations. I felt anxiety when they were in the situation more than I do in some more simplistic fantasy stories.
Author: Django Wexler
Average Customer Review: (4.7 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Action & Adventure Magic
Number Of Pages: 400
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle
6. Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
This is a satirical and sarcastic version of a classic fantasy book. The main character who we follow, called Alcatraz, is sarcastic. He makes a lot of jokes that are quite heavy on sarcasm, but it’s still appropriate for kids.
There are some steampunk elements within this. It’s primarily based on the idea of glass and sand. Those are the powerful magical elements in this world. It’s set in our world, but there’s also another world. Also, a lot is going on in this book as Alice In Wonderland.
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Average Customer Review: (4.6 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Humorous Fiction
Number Of Pages: 308
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Mass Market Paperback
7. The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians)
It’s about a group of children who are half-gods. Their parents are gods, and then their other parent is immortal. So they have superpowers, but they’re not as excellent as gods. Also, they have to deal with all of the stuff on earth that the gods can’t be bothered to deal with. The story focuses on our main character, Percy, and he’s funny.
There are some great characters in this. The adventures that they go on are as fun as Alice In Wonderland. Percy Jackson’s school life was not great, and he faced much negligence. He has a unique personality that makes him different from another lifestyle. As the end of sixth-grade approaches, Percy’ll find out his great power and strength.
Author: Rick Riordan
Average Customer Review: (4.7 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Greek & Roman Fairy Tales
Number Of Pages: 377
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Library Binding | Kindle | Mass Market Paperback
8. The Edge Chronicles
This series starts with magic and then continues with the flight. There are a couple of others in the series. It’s set in a fantasy world with floating islands, and everyone lives on this island. Also, some pirates can fly around. We follow the main character (Quint Verginix), who has always been a pirate. He gets called onto the land, and he has to adapt to the way of life there. But also, there are monsters.
So Quint goes on a big adventure, trying to help out the person he’s staying with. These books are quite a lot of fun because they’re great to give you excitement to read the next book. Every book is illustrated, which is always a great bonus because illustrations make the stories come to life so much more. I would highly recommend this after Alice In Wonderland.
Author: Clive Mantle
Average Customer Review: (4.7 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Science Fiction Fantasy
Number Of Pages: 370-450
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Audio CD
9. Just Ella (The Palace Chronicles)
This is a start of a trilogy, but all three of the books are companion books. So they don’t necessarily need to be read the whole series. If you’re a completionist and want to read the entire series, that’s fine. The story is a continuation of Cinderella. So Ella is Cinderella that takes place after the end of the fairy tale, and she finds herself about to become a princess, about to get married to a man. Then she realizes that the guy is unknown to her. Do I want to become a princess?
So it’s a crisis of realizing that you’ve gotten yourself in a situation that determines the rest of your life. Like Alice In Wonderland, Ella’s relies on the man to get her out of her situation as Alice. It doesn’t give a lot of power to Cinderella. It is an excellent continuation of the fairy tale, and I would at least suggest the first book in the trilogy. It ends satisfying enough that you wouldn’t have to continue the series.
Author: Margaret Peterson Haddix
Average Customer Review: (4.4 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths
Number Of Pages: 208
Available: Audio CD | Paperback | School & Library Binding | Kindle | Mass Market Paperback
10. East
This is a retelling of a folk story called East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Also, it is very much like Beauty And The Beast tale. Our main character, Rose, is trying to save her sick sister. A polar bear shows up and says if Rose goes with her and agrees to be his captive, he will make sure that his sister is healed.
So by beating the beast, Rose’s sacrificing herself to save her family and agrees to be a captive of the bear. Is it weaving or sewing? Then we also see the polar bear and his backstory. The ending was a bit rushed, but I did enjoy it in total. I would at least suggest this first book. The plot, theme, and world-building are similar to Alice In Wonderland.
Author: Edith Pattou
Average Customer Review: (4.7 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Young Adult Fantasy
Number Of Pages: 507
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Audio CD
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