''Gladys in Grammarland'' is a novel by Audrey Mayhew Allen, written ca. 1897 and published by the Roxburghe Press of Westminster. It is an educational

imitation Imitation (from Latin ''imitatio'', "a copying, imitation") is a behavior whereby an individual observes and replicates another's behavior. Imitation is also a form of that leads to the "development of traditions, and ultimately our culture. ...

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...

's 1865 book ''

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a ...

''. In this story, Gladys becomes sleepy after class and finds that a Verb Fairy has taken an interest in her education. She is taken, through a cardboard door with "English Grammar" written on it, into Grammarland, where she meets with a great many Verbs, who explain the concepts of transitivity and

intransitivity In mathematics, intransitivity (sometimes called nontransitivity) is a property of binary relations that are not transitive relations. This may include any relation that is not transitive, or the stronger property of antitransitivity, which descri ...

to her. She is tried at court and for using bad grammar, and imprisoned, where she studies some grammar. At length she is released and tried to mediate a dispute between King Proper Noun and King Common Noun. ''Gladys in Grammarland'' is one of a class of books called a "didactic imitation" by Carolyn Sigler.Sigler, Carolyn, ed. 1997. ''Alternative Alices: Visions and Revisions of Lewis Carroll's "Alice" Books.'' Lexington, KY, University Press of Kentucky. Pp. 340-347 Audrey Mayhew Allen was born in 1870, and so was about 27 years of age when she wrote ''Gladys in Grammarland''. She was the granddaughter of

Henry Mayhew Henry Mayhew (25 November 1812 – 25 July 1887) was an English journalist, playwright, and advocate of reform. He was one of the co-founders of the satirical magazine ''Punch'' in 1841, and was the magazine's joint editor, with Mark Lemon, in ...

, one of the two founders (1841) of the satirical and humorous magazine

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

, and of

Douglas William Jerrold Douglas William Jerrold (London 3 January 18038 June 1857 London) was an English dramatist and writer. Biography Jerrold's father, Samuel Jerrold, was an actor and lessee of the little theatre of Wilsby near Cranbrook in Kent. In 1807 Dougla ...

, a dramatist and writer. The book features a number of line-drawings by an artist credited as "Claudine".

Bibliography

*Allen, Audrey Mayhew (2010
''Gladys in Grammarland''
Evertype.

Notes

{{alice 1897 British novels 1897 fantasy novels 1890s children's books British fantasy novels Children's fantasy novels Grammar books Books based on Alice in Wonderland