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A review by obsidian_blue
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
5.0
Shocking though it is I never read any of the Wizard of Oz books. I of course saw the movie when I was a kid and absolutely adored it. I also played the voice of Oz, one of the munchkins, and one of the crows who was harassing the Scarecrow in elementary school. I wonder if my parents ever knew about the contents of these books since I had a ton of books growing up but nothing from the Oz series.
L. Frank Baum begins the story with a foreword discussing how he wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in order to be pleasing to today's children (this was dated in 1900). One wonders what children he knew. I think that Baum does a good job of writing a 'modern' fairy tale but is still reminiscent of the older messed up tales written by Hans Christian Anderson and the Brothers Grimm which is why I loved this story so much.
Though the story begins with Dorothy in Kansas we don't have any idea how old she is. We do know that she is not a teenager since she is referred to as a little girl frequently throughout the story.
As many of you know who are familiar with this story, Dorothy and Toto are carried away in a cyclone to the land of Oz. The house she is in promptly falls and kills the Wicked Witch of the East. The Witch of the North and the Munchkins promptly thank Dorothy for freeing the Munchkins from bondage and she is given the witch's kiss as protection and the dead witch's silver shoes to wear on her journey to the Emerald City to meet Oz with the hope that he can send her back home to Kansas.
I kept having to stop myself as I read in order to keep a quick sanity check. This book besides the names being the same and having some scenes that were then shown in the movie is like night and day.
I loved Dorothy's introduction to the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion. We got an interesting back-story to each character and the back-story to the Tin Woodman surprised me a lot. The Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion join Dorothy in order to receive brains, a heart, and courage from the Wizard of Oz.
Frequently throughout the story you realize that L. Frank Baum is poking fun at his characters for showing them not to be as smart or as loyal as they claim. I counted at least two times that our merry band left someone behind when something befall them. It was great that they came back each time, but I would have been side-eyeing everyone.
I really loved all of the details that L. Frank Baum about the land of Oz. I really loved hearing about how the whole land was divided into North, South, West, and East and what people and colors inhabited those lands. Frankly, I think he should be applauded because the world building is actually quite impressive in a book this short.
Of course we get to the party meeting the Wonderful Wizard who commands them to go off and kill the Wicked Witch of the West. At this point, unlike in the movie, the Wicked Witch has not met Dorothy is not trying to kill her. So the Wizard sucks for forcing the whole party to go forth and murder someone that didn't do a thing to them in order for them to gain what they want.
There were additional characters in this story that were never referenced in the movie such as the Queen of the Mice, the Hammer-Head people, The China people, and the Quadlings. I can see now why there are fourteen books in this series since there are so many people and places that are referenced that you want to find out more about.
This was a great first book in the Oz series though at times it did drag a bit. Probably because I already knew how it would end, but I was still fascinated by all the segues that our group goes through that were not shown in the movie. Each of our heroes comes to a respectable end though I am a bit surprised by how the Tin Woodman's story ends since he initially was in want of a heart in order to find the Munchkin girl who he loved before he was turned into tin. I wonder if L. Frank Baum forgot about that or was already thinking of book #2 in his series and decided to not revisit that whole story-line.
I am definitely going to see about finding an illustrated book that covers the entire series someday.
L. Frank Baum begins the story with a foreword discussing how he wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in order to be pleasing to today's children (this was dated in 1900). One wonders what children he knew. I think that Baum does a good job of writing a 'modern' fairy tale but is still reminiscent of the older messed up tales written by Hans Christian Anderson and the Brothers Grimm which is why I loved this story so much.
Though the story begins with Dorothy in Kansas we don't have any idea how old she is. We do know that she is not a teenager since she is referred to as a little girl frequently throughout the story.
As many of you know who are familiar with this story, Dorothy and Toto are carried away in a cyclone to the land of Oz. The house she is in promptly falls and kills the Wicked Witch of the East. The Witch of the North and the Munchkins promptly thank Dorothy for freeing the Munchkins from bondage and she is given the witch's kiss as protection and the dead witch's silver shoes to wear on her journey to the Emerald City to meet Oz with the hope that he can send her back home to Kansas.
I kept having to stop myself as I read in order to keep a quick sanity check. This book besides the names being the same and having some scenes that were then shown in the movie is like night and day.
I loved Dorothy's introduction to the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion. We got an interesting back-story to each character and the back-story to the Tin Woodman surprised me a lot. The Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion join Dorothy in order to receive brains, a heart, and courage from the Wizard of Oz.
Frequently throughout the story you realize that L. Frank Baum is poking fun at his characters for showing them not to be as smart or as loyal as they claim. I counted at least two times that our merry band left someone behind when something befall them. It was great that they came back each time, but I would have been side-eyeing everyone.
I really loved all of the details that L. Frank Baum about the land of Oz. I really loved hearing about how the whole land was divided into North, South, West, and East and what people and colors inhabited those lands. Frankly, I think he should be applauded because the world building is actually quite impressive in a book this short.
Of course we get to the party meeting the Wonderful Wizard who commands them to go off and kill the Wicked Witch of the West. At this point, unlike in the movie, the Wicked Witch has not met Dorothy is not trying to kill her. So the Wizard sucks for forcing the whole party to go forth and murder someone that didn't do a thing to them in order for them to gain what they want.
There were additional characters in this story that were never referenced in the movie such as the Queen of the Mice, the Hammer-Head people, The China people, and the Quadlings. I can see now why there are fourteen books in this series since there are so many people and places that are referenced that you want to find out more about.
This was a great first book in the Oz series though at times it did drag a bit. Probably because I already knew how it would end, but I was still fascinated by all the segues that our group goes through that were not shown in the movie. Each of our heroes comes to a respectable end though I am a bit surprised by how the Tin Woodman's story ends since he initially was in want of a heart in order to find the Munchkin girl who he loved before he was turned into tin. I wonder if L. Frank Baum forgot about that or was already thinking of book #2 in his series and decided to not revisit that whole story-line.
I am definitely going to see about finding an illustrated book that covers the entire series someday.