I first read an excerpt of Lewis Carroll's poem in this delightful book. This is one of those books that I remember well. Having always read voraciously, I would greedily "eat up" any book that came across my path. Unfortunately, the quantity of what I read as a child has vastly overshadowed the quality of the material. A lot of kid's books are pure are not very good. I don't remember all of the books that I read, but I remember THIS one. I got a lot of pleasure from reading this book over and over again from the age of about 8 on up. It is my happy privilege to be able to allow my 8 year old daughter to experience the same feeling as she discovers dumbwaiters, notebooks, and friends. I hope she likes it!