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Features include: •MPAA Rating: PG•Format: DVD•Runtime: 108 minutes

Tim Burton was born to bring Alice in Wonderland to the big screen. Ironically, his version of the Victorian text plays more like The Wizard of Oz than a Lewis Carroll adaptation. On the day of her engagement party, the 19-year-old Alice (a nicely understated Mia Wasikowska) is lead by a white-gloved rabbit to an alternate reality that looks strangely familiar--she's been dreaming about it since she was 6 years old. Stranded in a hall of doors, she sips from a potion that makes her shrink and nibbles on a cake that makes her grow. Once she gets the balance right, she walks through the door that leads her to Tweedledum and Tweedledee (Matt Lucas), the Dormouse (Barbara Windsor), the Blue Caterpillar (Alan Rickman), and the Cheshire Cat (a delightful Stephen Fry), who inform her that only she can free them from the wrath of the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter channeling Bette Davis) by slaying the Jabberwocky. To pull off the feat, she teams up with the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp in glam-rock garb), rebel bloodhound Bayard (Timothy Spall), and Red's sweet sister, the White Queen (Anne Hathaway in goth-rock makeup). While Red welcomes Alice with open arms, she plans an execution for the hat-maker when he displeases her ("Off with his head!"). Drawing from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, Burton creates a candy-colored action-adventure tale with a feminist twist. If it drags towards the end, his 3-D extravaganza still offers a trippy good time with a poignant aftertaste. --Kathleen C. Fennessy Stills from Alice in Wonderland

I have been living with this constant fear of exile now for two days. So far I have heard nothing. Plans seem to proceed as normal for our move to Ashridge. This palace, too, is becoming quite filthy, what with all the banqueting and people and gaming between Michaelmas Feast and the feast of All Saints' Day. The roses bloom in our garden with such vigor, but the stench from the courtyard over the wall outside the kitchens is unbearable. Kat is mumbling something about baths again. The woman is becoming a fanatic. I think we have had half a dozen baths since summer.... Ages 9-12 years 7.4 x 5.2 x 0.9

"Do you know who I am? I shall tell you. I am Elizabeth, Princess of England, daughter of Henry VIII and his wife Anne Boleyn. I am eleven years old. My mother, once Queen, is now dead. Almost eight years ago, when I was not yet three, Father chopped off her head." Daughter of a fallen queen, young Princess Elizabeth lives a complicated and dangerous life. She fears her father's famous temper but loves him dearly, noting that she would trade all her jewels just to be noticed by him. She also loves her brother Edward, heir to the English throne, but doesn't like her older sister Mary, who torments her and conspires against her. Kat, her governess, is so worried for Elizabeth's life that she spends hours checking their room for poison whenever they move to a new palace. Court intrigues swirl around her, the French are threatening an invasion, and Kat is clamoring for her to have another bath--that makes nearly six in three months! Through Elizabeth's diary, author Kathryn Lasky brings the Tudor world to life: glittering banquets of peacock, eel, and swan; palaces so stinky that "everyone goes about with their noses buried in pomander balls to hide the stench"; archery contests, where Elizabeth excels; and Latin and logic lessons... where she needs a little work. Some of the history is slightly flawed (a misplaced date or two), but readers will enjoy the great detail as they learn about the childhood of one of England's greatest monarchs. An epilogue, with Tudor family trees, paintings, and background information enhances this already excellent and entertaining book. (Ages 10 and older) --Sunny Delaney