John Tenniel

Hello! My name is John Tenniel, and I was an artist who loved to draw pictures for stories. I was born in a big city called London, England, way back on February 28th, 1820. Ever since I was a little boy, my favorite thing to do was draw. I would draw everything I could see. I didn't go to a special art school for very long. Instead, I taught myself how to be a better artist. I spent my days visiting art galleries to look at beautiful paintings. I also loved visiting the Tower of London because it had so many amazing animals to sketch in my notebook. This is how I learned to draw all sorts of wonderful things.

When I grew up, I was so happy that I could make drawing my job. I became a professional artist. In 1850, I got a very exciting job working for a famous magazine called Punch. This magazine was very popular because it was filled with funny pictures and cartoons. The cartoons I drew often made gentle jokes about important things that were happening in the world at the time. I loved working at Punch so much that I stayed there for more than 50 years. During my time there, I drew over two thousand cartoons. It was a lot of work, but I enjoyed every minute of it.

One day, I met a wonderful writer named Lewis Carroll. He had written a fantastic story and needed an artist to draw the pictures for it. The book, published in 1865, was called Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It was my job to bring all the magical characters to life with my drawings. I had so much fun imagining and sketching them. I drew a girl named Alice, of course, and also the White Rabbit who was always in a hurry, the big-grinning Cheshire Cat, and the silly Mad Hatter having a tea party. A few years later, in 1871, I also drew the pictures for the second book, Through the Looking-Glass. I worked very hard to make sure every picture helped tell the magical story just the way Lewis Carroll wanted.

My drawings were loved by many people, even the Queen of England. In 1893, Queen Victoria honored me for my art by making me a knight. After that, people called me Sir John Tenniel. I lived a long and happy life filled with drawing pictures for books and magazines. I lived to be 93 years old. I am so glad that even today, my drawings of Alice, the Mad Hatter, and the Cheshire Cat help children all over the world imagine the magical world of Wonderland when they read about her amazing adventures.