Alice Through the Needle's Eye

{{infobox book | | name = Alice Through the Needle's Eye: A Third Adventure for Lewis Carroll's Alice | title_orig = | translator = | image = Alice_Through_the_Needle's_Eye.jpg | caption = First edition | author = Gilbert Adair | illustrator = | cover_artist = | country = United States | language = English | series = | genre = Fantasy | publisher = Macmillan | pub_date = 1984 | english_pub_date = | media_type = Print (Hardcover) | pages = 184 | isbn = 0-525-24303-8 | congress = PZ7.A1859 Al 1984 | oclc= 11891346 | preceded_by = Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871) | followed_by = }}Alice Through the Needle's Eye: A Third Adventure for Lewis Carroll's Alice is a 1984 novel by Gilbert Adair that pays tribute to the work of Lewis Carroll through a further adventure of the eponymous fictional heroine, told in Carroll's surrealistic style. Plot Alice spends a winter day continuously failing to thread a sewing needle. When she takes an extremely close look through the eye of the needle, she sees an unknown world on the other side, and finds herself falling through the needle's eye into this world. She falls into a haystack accompanied by frightened Country Mouse. She makes her way out of the haystack and continues in the direction of an inviting beach. Alice does not travel far before she meets two cats that are joined at the tail. The cats, called Ping and Pang, inform Alice that they are "Siamese-Twin Cats". They recite the poem "The Sands of Dee"; Pang forgets the last word of the poem, prompting a duel between them. But before their duel begins, the sky darkens and rains down cats and dogs. When the peculiar shower of animals has stopped, Ping and Pang realize that they must attend the "vote." Alice follows them to find out what the vote is about. Along the way, she meets an Elephant who gives her a ride to "Hide-and-Seek Park." Here, a politician Emu gives a speech which is so brief that Alice misses it entirely. Soon after this, the vote transforms into an auction, and with the final cry of, "Going...going...gone!" everyone abruptly vanishes. A whale she met at the auction, called the Grampus, insists Alice accompany him to board a train. Along the ride, Alice's surroundings transform into a study room. She exits this room and ventures towards a hill she spots in the distance.