I can't believe I never read this book as a child. It's so whimsical and heart-warming--and so different than the movie! I like it so much better, in fact, with the Tin Woodsman's backstory, silver shoes, a one-eyed Wicked Witch of the West, and, of course, the story of the Winged Monkeys. But leaving the movie, in all it's iconic imagery, aside, the book is a lovely, turn-of-the-century fairy tale that makes me nostalgic for my childhood library (even though this book wasn't part of it). Oh, and home, too. Home as I remember it then, asbsimple and as magical as the Land of Oz.