Reception by reviewers[edit]
The book Alice in Wonderland failed to be named in an 1888 poll of the most popular children's stories. Generally, it received poor reviews, with reviewers giving more credit to Tenniel's illustrations than to Carroll's story. At the release of Through the Looking-Glass, the first Alice tale gained in popularity and, by the end of the 19th century, Sir Walter Besant wrote that Alice in Wonderland "was a book of that extremely rare kind which will belong to all the generations to come until the language becomes obsolete".[32]
