The Mad Hatter's Tea Party Tag

Greetings and Salutations!


This is my stop on the Down The Read-A-Thon Hole Challenge. 

You can find out all about the challenge here, Ashley from Down the Book Hole has come up with a whole range of Alice in Wonderland related challenges for her followers to take on this month, and I'm very excited to be a part of it!

I've always been a huge fan of Wonderland and Looking Glass World, and have quite a collection of Lewis Carroll books, so it took me a while to figure out just what I was going to do. I finally settled on this, the Mad Hatter's Tea Party Tag. If you are playing along, I hope you enjoy it!

"No room! No room!" they cried out when they saw Alice coming.

Oh no, there's no room for you at the mad tea party. You're going to have to move somewhere else.
If you could host a tea party anywhere in a fictional world, where would it be?

In Sky Song, by Abi Elphinstone, the Fur Tribe live in the most wonderful village, a collection of tree houses forty metres above the floor of Deeproots forest, all connected with walkways and ropes. I'd love to have a tea party in the hammocks in that little settlement.

"Have some wine," the March Hare said in an encouraging tone.
Alice looked all round the table, but there was nothing on it but tea. "I don't see any wine," she remarked.
"There isn't any," said the March Hare.

Looks like you'll have to do the catering yourself. You can choose any three foods or drinks for your tea party, but again they have to come from books.

Tea parties are best with lots of sweet things, right? The Redwall books by Brian Jacques are about a group of animals living in an abbey, fending off attacks from vicious beasts inbetween massive feasts. One of my favourites is Skilly 'n' Duff, a fruit and spiced boiled pudding in a sweet sauce.

I've got to go for Nanny Ogg's Maids of Honour, from the Discworld series. Well, they start off as Maids of Honour, but take your eyes off them for a minute and they end up as tarts!

Finally, we need something to drink! Obviously there'll be tea, that goes without saying. But how about a bottle of Frobscottle to wash it down with, courtesy of Roald Dahl and the BFG? I'm sure a few whizzpoppers will just liven up the tea party!

"I'm getting tired of this. I vote the young lady tells us a story."
"I'm afraid I don't know one," said Alice, rather alarmed at the proposal.

It looks like you're expected to tell a story, but it has to come from another story. What is your favourite story within a story?

I love a story within a story, and I've read some excellent ones recently. Probably my favourite would be from The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo, and the stories Ayama tells the beast in Ayama and the Thorn Wood.

It was the White Rabbit returning, splendidly dressed, with a pair of white kid-gloves in one hand and a large fan in the other."

You obviously have to dress up for your tea party. You can have any three items of clothing from your choice of story. And don't worry about decency, we'll assume that any areas of you left exposed are suitably covered up.

My first choice would definitely be Kell's coat from the Darker Shades series by V. E. Schwabb. It's the most amazing, magical coat that its owner can just turn inside out and end up with the perfect garment for any occasion.

Marquis de Carabas from Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere also has a very cool coat, but I'm worried I'd get too hot with two coats on!

If the silver slippers from The Wizard of Oz came in men's styles, I'd definitely go for a pair of them. I love going on adventures, but I always hate how long it seems to take to get home again afterwards, so to be able to wish myself home would be the dream.

I always like to have the right bit of kit in an emergency, and I love my gadgets, so for my third item I'm going for Batman's utility belt.

"At any rate I'll never go there again!" said Alice, as she picked her way through the wood. "It's the stupidest tea-party I ever was at in all my life!"

I hope you have a good tea party!

Liam