Reading Club: Children’s Literature | Alice in Wonderland, or Curiouser and Curiouser

The activity will take place at the Lighthouse.

Our Reading Club for young book lovers meets again in August, hosted by the theater educator Artemis Manou.

The book that will inspire this month’s meeting is “Alice in Wonderland, or Curiouser and Curiouser”, in an adaptation by Antonis Papatheodoulou. 

Our young readers will have the chance to share their impressions, feelings and thoughts, as well as to travel, using their imagination as the vehicle and the book of the month as their launch pad, into the exciting worlds that spring up from its pages. 

The book: 

A girl, Alice. A rabbit that wears a watch and speaks in a human voice. A rabbithole that you fall into and keep falling, further and further and further down (will you, perhaps, land at the center of the earth? Or come out on the other side?). Three doors that lead to who-knows-where. A potion that turns you tiny if you drink it. A cake that makes you huge. And a Mad Hatter, right there, in front of you! Did you ever think such curious things could happen on a regular afternoon, when you’re sitting on a rug your garden, and you’re bored, so bored?

… like it’s August, and you don’t know what to do with yourself, and - all of a sudden - a book lands on your head (oops!... OK: in your hands); full of colors, full of laughs, like this one I’m writing now. 

One of the most popular books of international literature, retold by Antonis Papatheodoulou and illustrated by Iris Samartzi, transports us to Wonderland, home to weird creatures, and throws a window open wide to the imagination and the absurd, but also to wisdom (those qualities shared 

The author: 

Antonis Papatheodoulou writes and translates stories, songs and screenplays for children. He was received several awards for his work, including the Greek State Picture Book Award, the IBBY Greece Illustrated Book Award, the DIAVAZO Illustrated Children’s Book Award, the IBBY Greece Non Fiction Award, etc. His book One Last Letter, which he co-created with Iris Samartzi, won the International Compostela Prize for Picture Books in 2016.  

The Reading Club hostess:

Artemis Manou completed her undergraduate studies at the Faculty of Philology (majoring in Linguistics) of the University of Athens School of Philosophy, and gained a Master’s Degree in Teaching Modern Greek as a Foreign/Second Language; she also attended the Vasilis Diamantopoulos School of Drama. Having spent several years working in private education and as an actor, in 2009 she combined her love for theater and children as a facilitator and director of theater groups. She has worked with the Onassis Foundation Stegi on the Youth Theater Festival, writing plays and staging performances for teenagers, and was a contributor in the experiential learning program “Contemporary Art: first you live… then you understand” held by the Onassis Stegi in primary schools, where she organized, along with Jenny Argyriou, Andreas Kasapis and Myrto Tikov, creative expression workshops based on stimuli from contemporary art. Since 2017, she runs workshops for children, teenagers and education professionals at the National Theater. She has written a total of 15 plays for young people. The National Theater’s program “Theater in Greek”, addressed to Greek and refugee teenagers, holds a special place in her heart. Her play “To Taxidi”, which she co-wrote with Vangelis Kyriakou, was included in the repertoire of the Young People’s Stage of the National Theater (“Mikro Ethniko”) in 2018. She was born and lives in Athens. But she dreams of living in many more places – along with her family. 

Alice in Wonderland, or Curiouser and Curiouser, illustrated by the award-winning Iris Samartzi, is available by Papadopoulos Publications. 

A little pre-meeting project for Reading Club members:

- Which country would you like to visit, which doesn’t actually exist?

- What is it like over there? What do people do? Are there even any people? Or is it inhabited by weird creatures and strange objects? Or something else entirely, that we cannot even imagine?

Write a few lines about this country, or draw a picture of it (and help us go there, too)! 

Tuesday 31/08
17.30-18.45
LIGHTHOUSE

For children aged 7 to 10 years old
Up to 27 participants
Free participation by online pre-registration

Preregistration starts on Friday 30/07 at 12.00.

To take part in the Reading Club, all registered participants are required to read the book of the month. 

Children should always be accompanied by parents or adult chaperones, who should stay outside the activity area for as long as the activity lasts.

In the context of the collaboration between the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center and the National Library of Greece, the children's book of August’s Reading Club has been selected by the Staff of the NLG.

The use of face mask and social distancing measures are mandatory in indoor and outdoor areas of the SNFCC, in accordance with Hellenic National Public Health Organization regulations.

 Due to public health measures, there may be changes regarding either the staging of the event, or the maximum number of participants.

Children should always be accompanied by parents or adult chaperones, who should stay outside the activity area for as long as the activity lasts.