Today is the birthday of Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland.

Lewis Carroll is the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who was a lecturer in mathematics at the University of Oxford. He is best known as the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which he wrote to entertain Alice Liddell, the daughter of a friend. Carroll wrote other children's books, nonsense poems (including "Jabberwocky"), and a book on mathematics. He died on January 14, 1898.

After reading Chapter 6 of Through the Looking Glass, plan a "Very Merry Unbirthday Party."  Begin by having students search the text for the important elements of an unbirthday party, and then have them use the interactive ReadWriteThink Venn Diagram to compare unbirthday and birthday parties.

Once students have listed the characteristics of an unbirthday party, you're ready to begin the planning! Decide on the date, time, and number of guests for the party, as well as the activities and food that you'll include. Have each student create an invitation signed by a character from the book. Before writing their invitations, have students use the interactive ReadWriteThink Character Map to focus on the key elements of the characters they choose. They can also construct riddles based on their characters for the party guests to solve.

On the day of the party, students may come dressed up as their characters, or they can wear masks. Once everyone has finished eating, allow each child to share his or her character riddle, and then read some unbirthday stories.

• Alice in Wonderland: An Interactive Adventure
  

  Play chess against the Queen of Hearts, try your hand at the online maze, and explore the many other online activities and games at this interactive website.

• Lewis Carroll Home Page
  

  This website features resources related to Carroll's mathematical studies, as well as biographical material, photographs, and popular culture materials that link to Alice.

• The Lewis Carroll Scrapbook Collection
  

  This Library of Congress resource offers links to images of a scrapbook kept by Lewis Carroll, a gallery of portraits taken by Carroll, and a timeline of events during his life.

• Selected Poetry of Lewis Carroll (1832-1898)
  

  Read nine poems by Lewis Carroll, courtesy of Representative Poetry On-line from the University of Toronto. The poems include such favorites as "The Hunting of the Snark," "Jabberwocky," and "The Walrus and the Carpenter."