Down the Rabbit Hole: Dedications in the Works of Lewis Carroll, J. M. Barrie, and C. S. Lewis.

This article examines the paratextual category of dedications in children's literature, focusing on the dedications in canonical works by Lewis Carroll, J. M. Barrie, and C. S. Lewis. It argues that these dedications, while publicly presented, retain a private communicative function that reveals the collaborative creative process between authors and their child dedicatees, who inspired main characters and contributed to story conception through oral storytelling and play. The study highlights recurring themes such as the story as a gift, the crystallization of the moment of creation, and the complex treatment of time—depicted tragically in Carroll's and Barrie's works and more circularly and reassuringly in Lewis's. By analyzing dedications as autonomous literary content, the article deepens understanding of author–child relationships and enriches critical discourse on paratext in children's literature.