60 free Alice in Wonderland trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
54 free Alice in Wonderland trivia questions with answers. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland began as a story told in a rowing boat on the Thames in 1862 and has since been translated into 174 languages, animated by Disney and turned into a billion-dollar Tim Burton film. This quiz covers all of it: the Oxford mathematician behind the pen name, the real Alice Liddell, the tea party and the croquet game, the chess-board logic of Through the Looking-Glass and the nonsense words of 'Jabberwocky', plus the voice cast of the 1951 cartoon and the Oscars won by the 2010 movie. It suits a book club, a classroom, a themed party or anyone who has ever wondered why a raven is like a writing desk. Difficulty ranges from questions any reader can get to genuinely hard ones about the manuscript, the withdrawn first edition and Carroll's private jokes. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the novels, the films, the characters and the people involved. If we could not cite it, it is not here.
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Q 01In what year was Alice's Adventures in Wonderland first published?
1865
It has never been out of print since. The sequel followed six years later.
Q 02What was Lewis Carroll's real name?
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson
He was an Oxford mathematics don, and the pen name came from Latinising and reversing his first two names.
Q 03On what date did the famous 'golden afternoon' boat trip take place, when the story was first told?
4 July 1862
Carroll rowed the three Liddell sisters from Folly Bridge to Godstow for a picnic and improvised the tale on the way.
Q 04How old was Alice Liddell on the boat trip where she first heard the story?
10
Her sisters Edith and Lorina were 8 and 13. Alice asked Carroll to write the story down, which he did as a Christmas gift.
Q 05What was the title of the handwritten manuscript Carroll gave the Liddell girl in 1864?
Alice's Adventures Under Ground
He illustrated it himself and dedicated it 'A Christmas Gift to a Dear Child in Memory of a Summer's Day'.
Q 06Who drew the 42 illustrations in the original edition?
John Tenniel
He was already famous as chief cartoonist for Punch, and his objection to the first print run's quality got 2,000 copies pulled.
Q 07Why were the first 2,000 copies withdrawn from sale in England?
The illustrator disliked the quality
Those copies were sold in the United States instead, and surviving 1865 first editions are now among the most valuable children's books.
Q 08What is the White Rabbit carrying when Alice first spots him?
A pocket watch
He is muttering that he is late, and in the Disney film he gets a whole song about it.
Q 09What is written on the bottle Alice finds after falling down the rabbit hole?
Drink me
A cake labelled 'Eat me' does the opposite, growing her to a tremendous size.
Q 10What is the Caterpillar doing when Alice meets him?
Smoking a hookah on a mushroom
He tells her the mushroom can make her grow or shrink depending on which side she eats.
Q 11Whose baby turns into a piglet in Alice's arms?
The Duchess's
Alice releases it into the woods, reasoning it would have made a dreadfully ugly child but a rather handsome pig.
Q 12What does the Cheshire Cat leave behind when it disappears?
Its grin
The phrase 'grinning like a Cheshire cat' predates the book, and one theory ties it to Cheshire cheese moulded in the shape of a smiling cat.
Q 13Which three characters are at the tea party when Alice arrives?
The Hatter, the March Hare and the Dormouse
Q 21What is the Mock Turtle's 'Turtle Soup' a parody of?
A tune the Liddell sisters sang for Carroll
The original was 'Star of the Evening, Beautiful Star'; Carroll built the book from private jokes for the family.
Q 22Which character in the Caucus-Race is a caricature of Carroll himself?
The Dodo
He had a stammer and sometimes pronounced his own surname 'Dodo-Dodgson'. The Duck is his friend Robinson Duckworth.
Q 23What are the names of the three sisters in the Dormouse's story?
Elsie, Lacie and Tillie
It is always six o'clock at their table, so they simply move around it as the dishes get used up.
Q 14What is the Hatter's unanswerable riddle?
Why is a raven like a writing desk?
Carroll originally intended it to have no answer at all, though he later offered one in a preface.
Q 15What price tag does the Hatter wear in his hat in the Tenniel illustrations?
10/6
That is ten shillings and sixpence. Carroll never actually calls him the 'Mad' Hatter in the text.
Q 16What is the likely origin of the phrase 'mad as a hatter'?
Mercury poisoning among hat makers
Mercury was used to make felt hats, and hat making was the main trade in Stockport near where Carroll grew up.
Q 17What are the 'balls' in the Queen's croquet game?
Hedgehogs
Flamingos serve as mallets and soldiers bend over to be the hoops.
Q 18What crime is the Knave of Hearts accused of at the trial?
Stealing the Queen's tarts
The trial follows the old nursery rhyme, and Alice's outburst that they are 'nothing but a pack of cards' ends the dream.
Q 19Why are the gardeners painting the roses red?
They planted a white rose tree by mistake
The Queen of Hearts hates white roses, so the cards are frantically fixing their error before she arrives.
Q 20What do the Gryphon and Mock Turtle dance for Alice?
The Lobster Quadrille
Disney wrote a song for the scene that never made the film; its melody became 'Never Smile at a Crocodile' in Peter Pan.
They are the three Liddell girls in disguise: Elsie for L.C. (Lorina Charlotte), Lacie is an anagram of Alice, and Tillie was Edith's family nickname.
Q 24Into how many languages has the novel been translated?
174
It has never gone out of print. German and French editions appeared as early as 1869.
Q 25Which British Prime Minister may be the inspiration for Bill the Lizard's name?
Benjamin Disraeli
Tenniel drew several Looking-Glass characters to resemble Disraeli too, including the 'Man in White Paper' on the train.
Q 26How much did Carroll's own copy of the 1865 first edition sell for at auction in 1998?
$1.54 million
It was one of only six surviving copies of the withdrawn first printing, and at the time the most expensive children's book ever sold.
Q 27In what year was the sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, published?
1871
Its full title is Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There.
Q 28What game provides the structure of Through the Looking-Glass?
Chess
The Red Queen tells Alice she can become a queen herself if she reaches the eighth rank of the board.
Q 29How can Alice read the poem 'Jabberwocky' when she first finds it?
By holding it up to a mirror
Everything on the other side of the glass is reversed, including the printing in the books.
Q 30Which character explains the nonsense words of 'Jabberwocky' to Alice?
Humpty Dumpty
He calls words like 'slithy' portmanteaus, with 'two meanings packed up into one word', a term that stuck.