***** - Excellent
**** - Good
*** - Okay
** - Bad
* - Terrible
The Wizard of Oz
L. Frank Baum
Puffin
Fiction, YA Fantasy/Classics
****
DESCRIPTION: Young Dorothy of Kansas, caught in her house with her dog Toto during a tornado, finds herself in a strange and magical land where she is hailed as a
hero: her house landed on the Wicked Witch of the East, ending her reign of terror over the peaceful Munchkins. The good news is there's only one Wicked Witch left in all
the land of Oz. The bad news is, the great and powerful Wizard of Oz won't send her home until Dorothy, Toto, and her unlikely companions - the Tin Woodsman, the Scarecrow,
and the Cowardly Lion - destroy her.
REVIEW: Okay, okay, I admit it. I'd only seen the movie. A while ago, I realized that there are a few books I've never read and probably should, and for some reason
this one wound up on my list. This fairy tale, considered by many to be the first such story of any notoriety written by an American, was first published in 1900. It holds
up fairly well, and has a certain fairy-tale, whimsical charm about it that is indeed timeless. It's different enough from the classic Judy Garland musical movie that it's
worth one's while to read the book in addition to seeing the movie. A fairly simple tale, yet not too simple to be enjoyed.
You might also enjoy:
The Everworld series (K. A. Applegate, YA Fiction - Four Chicago teens are pulled into a world where magic and elder gods reign)
Peter and the Starcatchers (Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, YA? Fiction - Prequel to classic Peter Pan)
Magic Kingdom For Sale - Sold! (Terry Brooks, Fiction - A laywer buys a magic kingdom in a catalog)
Dragon Companion (Don Callander, Fiction - A librarian is suddenly transported to a world of elves and dragons)
The Best of Lewis Carroll (Lewis Carrol, YA Fiction - Classic tales by Lewis Carroll, including Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, and more)
The Wiz Biz books (Rich Cook, Fiction - A Silicon Valley programmer is pulled into a magical world)
Coraline (Neil Gaiman, YA Fiction - A girl finds a surreal mirror version of her flat)
The Book of Story Beginnings (Kristin Kladstrup, YA Fiction - Children who write stories in a special notebook find themselves living out the tale in real life)
Un Lun Dun (China Miéville, YA Fiction - Two English schoolgirls find their way to the bizarre "abcity" mirror of London)
The Diadem series (John Peel, YA Fiction - A strange messenger plucks three children from three worlds for a special quest)
Jake Ransom and the Skull King's Shadow (James Rollins, YA Fiction - An ancient artifact pulls two teens into a lost world)
The 100 Cupboards trilogy (N. D. Wilson, YA Fiction - A boy on a Kansas farm finds mysterious cupboard doors leading to other worlds)
The Wizard of Oz (70th Anniversary Two-Disc Special Edition)
(1939 movie DVD)
Return to Oz
(1985 movie DVD; Dorothy returns to Oz, finding the Emerald City in ruins and the Gnome King in charge)
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