Tolkien could read by the age of four and could write fluently soon afterwards. His mother allowed him to read many books. He disliked "Treasure Island" and "The Pied Piper" and thought "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll was "amusing but disturbing". He liked stories about "Red Indians" (Native Americans) and the fantasy works by George MacDonald. In addition, the "Fairy Books" of Andrew Lang were particularly important to him and their influence is apparent in some of his later writings.