In his introduction to the first American fairytale that went on to become one of the most famous and beloved movies of all time, author L. Frank Baum says a rather extraordinary thing. Discussing the purpose of the old fairytales by Grimm and Andersen, Baum tells us that such tales existed both to entertain children and provide a moral by means of "horrible and blood-curdling" incident. True enough, but Baum goes on to say that his book falls outside this typical definition of a fairytale, telling us that: "the story of the Wizard of Oz was written solely to pleasure children of today. It aspires to being a modernized fairytale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heartaches and nightmares are left out."

Reading The Wizard of Oz for the first time made me wonder if Baum was even aware of what he'd written, or if perhaps someone else had written this introduction (someone who hadn't read the book), for The Wizard of Oz is positively jam-packed full of beheadings, monsters, witches, deaths and other terrors, all focused on a character that embodies the quintessential childhood fear: that of being lost and unable to return home. Indeed, with his description of Uncle Henry in the very first chapter, Baum writes: "He worked hard from morning till night and did not know what joy was. He was gray, from his long beard to his rough boots, and he looked stern and solemn, and rarely spoke." Not quite the cheerful fairytale Baum promises, is it?

But of course, this isn't a bad thing. If we want to enjoy the light, then there has to be some shadows, and throughout Baum's story there is a perfect blend of happiness and pain, wonderment and horror as Dorothy Gale traverses the Land of Oz in her attempts to get home to Kansas. I just find it rather bemusing that the author was apparently wholly unaware of this!

Inevitably, one can't help but compare Baum's original story with the movie-version, and it's interesting to compare the areas in which the two differ. There's still a little girl called Dorothy who lives with her Uncle Henry, Aunt Em and her dog Toto, and she's still caught up in a cyclone that whisks her away to the Land of Oz. On waking up, she finds that her house has landed on the Wicked Witch of the East, much to the delight of the diminutive Munchkins, who have been slaves under her rule. Rewarded with the Witch's Silver Shoes (*not* Ruby Slippers, which were an innovation of the movie in order to make the most of Technicolor), Dorothy is told to follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City and the Wizard of Oz, a mysterious figure who holds the best hope of getting her home again.

And of course there are the familiar and beloved figures of the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion, stalwart friends to Dorothy on her journey, and all desiring some internal quality (a brain, a heart and courage, respectively), completely unaware that they already have these traits in abundance. There's also the surprising Wizard of Oz, the evil Wicked Witch of the West (not as prevalent here as she was in the movie) and the good witches of the North and South (who in the movie are combined into the singular character of Glinda).

But there are plenty of things of Baum's creation that the movie left out, such as a community of talking field mice and their Queen, a city of tiny china people, and a whole range of other bizarre inhabitants that would have been entirely impossible for the movie to recreate. The book also gives us more background into certain people and places. For example, I was delighted to find that the book gives us background on the Tin Woodman, detailing how exactly he came to be made of tin, which is a rather poignant tale of lost love. And as it turns out, there is a lot more to those creepy flying monkeys and the Emerald City than the movie shows us.

In the movie, marvels are introduced one after the other in quick succession, making Oz a rather abstract and random place, much akin to Lewis Carroll's Wonderland in the "Alice" stories, (which makes a sort-of sense considering the film presents Oz as a dream that takes place in a concussed Dorothy's mind), but the literary Oz has some semblance of order and symmetry to it. The country is divided by color and direction, with the yellow-clad Winkies in the west, the red-clad Quadlings in the south, the blue-clad Munchkins in the east, and of course the green inhabitants of the Emerald City.

Apologies if this review has ended up more like a comparison piece between the film and the book, but having been brought up with fond memories of the film, and approaching the book for the first time in adulthood, it was rather inevitable that the two would be held up against one another. In any case, reading the original story served to convince me that both the book and the film are necessary to appreciate each one, and any childhood would be all the richer for having been exposed to both!

The Oz books were a huge part of my childhood. I never really got into other series that other kids my age liked: Hardy Boys, Box Car Children, Encyclopedia Brown. For some reason, I always preferred the more fantastic stories, which probably heavily influenced my later choices in fantasy and science fiction.

My wife never read the Oz books, and so I talked her into reading them with me. We have no children, but we both still enjoy children's books, and have a collection that we look forward to one day sharing with our children. "The Wizard of Oz" tops that list, for both of us now, with a few caveats.

It is obvious on reading the books that they are from a different world and a different time. I'm not talking about some fictional land somewhere over the rainbow; I'm talking about a time when children were not supposed to be protected from any nastiness or unpleasantness. Anyone who has read the original versions of Grimm's Fairy Tales knows what I'm talking about: beheadings, wars, violence, betrayal, abuse, etc. Some of these are found without apology in the land of Oz, which may shock people whose only other introduction to the world was through Judy Garland. The Tin Woodman is constantly chopping the head off of something, (to protect Dorothy, of course), not to mention the Scarecrow breaking the necks several dozen nefarious crows. Many other differences from the musical are discovered when reading the books: The Cowardly Lion isn't really cowardly, the Tin Woodman has always had a heart, and the Scarecrow is without a doubt the cleverest one in the bunch. I've never understood why the movie ignored these facts, or why the MGM's wizard didn't do as the great Oz in the books, and just give the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Lion exactly what they asked for: brains, a heart, and courage. This is to say nothing of the annoying fact the "Good Witch" in the movie knew the whole entire time Dorothy could have gone home whenever she wanted.

People who feel children should be protected and shielded at all cost to the "uglier" side of make-believe would do well to stay away from Oz. But individuals who feel a little fantasy, a little humour, and a small pinch of moral make for a fun story enjoyable by kids of all ages should enjoy Oz.

I read this book recently after reading Maguire's Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. I was very familiar with the movie The Wizard of Oz (Two-Disc Special Edition) but had never got around to reading the book, and I have to say, I really enjoyed it.
Read it by yourself or with your child, you will be surprised how different it is from the movie we all know.

This book was a great adventure!! You meet a lot of imaginary creatures and go through the woods through a town made of china and its good for children or adults!!!!!! So if you want your child to read more often give him/her the wizard of oz it will be imposible for your child to stop reading it!!!!!!!!! So if you want to read read read than read the wizard of oz!!!!!!!!!!!ITS GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE WIZARD OF OZ

The Wizard of Oz is about a girl, Dorothy, who's house was carried up in a cyclone with her and her dog Toto still in it. It turns out she landed in the Land of Oz. She meets some munchkins and a nice witch who tells her to go down the yellow brick road to meet the Great Oz who can get her back to Kansas where she lives. On her journey, she meets bad creatures, and friends who also need to get to Oz. They have some difficulties along the way. Will Dorothy ever get back to Kansas to meet her Aunt Em again?
This book has a clear message that you should keep trying, even if it's hard. Dorothy and her friends keep trying to get to Oz and anywhere else they need to be, even though the challenge is difficult.
This is a great fairy tale. I loved this book! So if you're looking for an exciting fairy tale, read The Wizard Of Oz!