These are the 14 books written by L. Frank Baum — the original author of the Oz series. Below is a list of additional Wizard of Oz books. The following books were written by a collection of writers, including two further titles from Ruth Plumly Thompson. Disclaimer: I earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account.
You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. That search ultimately results in her and a stolen K9 police dog driving in a stolen police car right into a tornado, the results of which transports both of them to what is revealed to be Oz.
Look for competing kingdoms, lethal warriors and dark magic engaged in a bloody battle for supremacy. As such, this is a version of Oz that is quite unlike any that has preceded it. Prev Next. Judy Garland. Liza Minnelli. Mickey Rooney. Michael Jackson. Richard Pryor. Fairuza Balk. Nicol Williamson. Idina Menzel. Kristen Chenoweth. Alan Cumming. Neal McDonough. Richard Dreyfuss.
Christopher Lloyd. Frank Baum tells the story of Dorothy, a girl lost in a strange land far from her home in Kansas. Dorothy representing traditional American values makes three friends: a scarecrow the farmer , a tin woodman the industrial worker , and a lion whose roar exceeds his might William Jennings Bryan.
Together, the four of them make their way along a perilous yellow brick road the gold standard , hoping to find the Wizard who will help Dorothy return home. Eventually they arrive in Oz Washington , where everyone sees the world through green glasses money.
The Wizard William McKinley tries to be all things to all people but turns out to be a fraud. Unfortunately the movie forgot the parable and omitted the silver slippers - thus depriving the majority of the audience of the real delight in the victory! The Republicans The Wizard won the election of , and the United States stayed on a gold standard, but the Free Silver advocates got the inflation that they wanted after gold was discovered in Alaska, Australia, and South Africa.
Even later, Gold was abandoned altogether and the fraudster wizards was never heard from again. Dorothy and Baum had the last laugh over the unwanted magical oppression of the Yellow Brick Road and the green-tinted world. Well, at least from the road. View all 30 comments. Currently filing a lawsuit with the Childhood Experience Department: Wondrous Fictional Classics Division over the fact that I didn't read this until I was a full-on adult.
I love children's classics because they feel like eating candy that's good for you. They're sweet and fun and often magical but also written all old-timey so it counts are reading Classic Literature and it makes your brain bigger, guaranteed. I had no friends, was a huge nerd, and read all the time. Some things never change. There's no excuse. Bottom line: A delight for all ages and times! View all 28 comments. Click here to watch a video review of this book on my channel, From Beginning to Bookend.
Dorothy Gale and her little dog Toto are swept away by a tornado from Kansas all the way to the Land of Oz. With a little help from the Witch of the North, Dorothy and Toto set off down a road paved with yellow bricks in search of the City of Emeralds and the Wizard of Oz, a man said to have the power to help Dorothy find her way back to Kansas. The cyclone had set the house down, very gently - for a cyclone Click here to watch a video review of this book on my channel, From Beginning to Bookend.
The cyclone had set the house down, very gently - for a cyclone - in the midst of a country of marvelous beauty. There were lovely patches of green sward all about, with stately trees bearing rich and luscious fruits. Banks of gorgeous flowers were on every hand, and birds with rare and brilliant plumage sang and fluttered in the trees and bushes. Along the way, Dorothy makes some unusual new friends, each of which desire something from the Wizard of Oz. He intended to write a children's book with new fantasy creatures in a realm yet unexplored, and his efforts were a marvelous success.
Dorothy's journey through the colorful and peculiar Land of Oz reveals an array of creatures like winged monkeys, talking china dolls, and bearlike Kalidahs.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is not the technicolor film known by millions, but rather, a surprisingly grim tale that is absent of ruby slippers and cities with emerald-green structures. As it came nearer the Tin Woodman saw that running before the beast was a little gray field-mouse, and although he had no heart he knew it was wrong for the wildcat to try to kill such a pretty, harmless creature. So the Woodman raised his axe, and as the wildcat ran by he gave it a quick blow that cut the beast's head clean off from its body, and it rolled over at his feet in two pieces.
With quirky illustrations, an amusing sense of logic, and delightful characters, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a gratifying start to a well-loved series. View all 19 comments. My 8-year-old decided she wanted to read this one, and we just finished buddy reading two different copies.
The beginning opens with a cyclone that carries Dorothy in her house, along with her little dog T My 8-year-old decided she wanted to read this one, and we just finished buddy reading two different copies. The beginning opens with a cyclone that carries Dorothy in her house, along with her little dog Toto, all the way to a foreign land. Her house falls on a wicked witch—killing her—resulting in Dorothy becoming a hero. On her journey to find the wizard she meets a scarecrow, a tin woodman, and a cowardly lion.
Together they embark on an adventure to find the Emerald City. Each of the four travelers has a request for the wizard: the scarecrow wants brains, the tin woodman a heart, and the lion needs courage.
There is no place like home. We had a tattered up copy in our school library. Some events were left out in the film, while others were added in which made it even more exciting, including the entire beginning of the movie. Details were also different. Not only that, parts of the book were fairly dark for young readers. There were forty wolves, and forty times a wolf was killed; so that at last they all lay dead in a heap before the Woodman.
We enjoyed reading about the magical world L. Just picture it with fighting trees, flying monkeys, munchkins and witches. There was no telling what would happen next! We connected with all the characters too. I was one of those children who waited for the movie to come on local television channels every single year.
I was entranced when Dorothy got sucked up into the tornado along with her house and Toto. One of the most exciting parts for me was when the movie transitioned from black and white to color. I was obsessed with the movie. The book may not be as extravagant as the movie and there are many differences, but the book is still magical with great characters.
There are many good lessons for children to learn as well. The illustrations throughout were a treat and make the story even more interesting. View all 18 comments. Almost everyone — at least in the English-speaking world — knows about the adventures of Dorothy, the young farm girl from Kansas, in the magical land of Oz, and her sidekicks, the Scarecrow without a brain, the Tin Woodman without a heart and the Cowardly Lion who lacks courage.
These characters embark on three consecutive quests: the first and most famous one along the yellow brick road, to reach the Emerald City and find the Wizard of Oz; the second one, to the Winkie Country and the Wicked Witch of the West; and finally the third one, to the Quadling Country and Glinda, the Good Witch of the South. This novel became a bestseller and was adapted into a Broadway musical, soon to become, in turn, a major Hollywood hit, with the film The Wizard of Oz , starring Judy Garland who was around 16 when she portrayed young Dorothy.
The influence of this book on 20th-century literature and film can hardly be overstated. Frank Baum is one of these authors whose name have been completely overshadowed by the popularity of their book. The recent very popular musical, Wicked , is also worth mentioning.
One interesting aspect of this story is the fact that the Wizard turns out to be a humbug. I'm just a very bad Wizard. In a way, the wizard is indeed a very good psychotherapist or politician, and the book is an edifying lesson on need and desire. The edition I own is beautifully illustrated by Olimpia Zagnoli, who has managed to give some tempo to the reading experience with flat-coloured geometric drawings.
View all 8 comments. Dorothy from Kansas wherever that is lives with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry on the flat American prairie, the harsh Sun beating down from the gray sky making everything turn gray No trees, brooks beautiful birds singing or anything colorful around the poor farm. But our adventures begin when a tornado lifts unlucky Dorothy , her dog Toto an Dorothy from Kansas wherever that is lives with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry on the flat American prairie, the harsh Sun beating down from the gray sky making everything turn gray But our adventures begin when a tornado lifts unlucky Dorothy , her dog Toto and only friend, while inside their small one room house up into the swirling, whistling ominous black sky, scared Aunt Em in the cellar a dark hole in the ground under the floor hiding and Uncle Henry outside taking care of the frightened farm animals.
The little girl is all alone with her dog as the strong winds of the storm takes her higher and higher always going above and further from Dorothy's loved ones, which is the blood relative is strangely never stated. After countless hours pass she falls asleep on her bed. Awakening by a loud noise the house crashing down on the ground the next day terrifying Dorothy But weird quite small people are timidly coming towards Dorothy they think she is a horrible , powerful witch the juvenile feels uneasy looking fully grown , like the Munchkins yet still a little girl's size And thanking the girl for their freedom by killing the wicked Witch of the East whose body lies underneath the house.
The pretty Witch of the North and is good also, unheard of news spreads quickly in the Land of Oz gives Dorothy the magical silver shoes of the dead sorceress. The farm girl wants to get back home to Kansas, asks directions nobody knows it but all tell Dorothy to follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City where the Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz, presumably lives and rules. Trouble is people never see the terrible wizard but he is the only one who can help Dorothy get back.
On the long journey the young girl and Toto meet the brainless failure the Scarecrow, stuck on a pole the Tin Woodman rusting outside in a forest tin doesn't rust , the Cowardly Lion attacking the group on the road and afterwards crying, all join Dorothy on her impossible quest for a brain a heart and courage the joke of this story is, that every traveler already has them, even Dorothy's wish can be easily achieved. Wide ditches have to be jumped wild animals fought rivers crossed, ugly flying monkeys, bees, poisonous blue, red, yellow, white and purple flowers thick gloomy forests, strange people some unfriendly and not made of flesh the evil dreadful Witch of the West in her impenetrable, dismal castle but that is later , must be overcome to reach the fabulous Emerald City.
They have a secret weapon Toto is not afraid of anything View all 25 comments. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a brief and magical adventure tale filled straightforward prose, predictable plot, and uninteresting protagonists with a penchant for morbidity, self-mutilation, and decapitation while whimsically traipsing along in a bizarre land chock-full of eldritch creatures.
Whirled by a cyclone, Dorothy, an innocent, harmless little girl, and Toto, her adorable dog, are whisked away in a peculiar land. From there, they tag along with eccentric beings and eventually meet the s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a brief and magical adventure tale filled straightforward prose, predictable plot, and uninteresting protagonists with a penchant for morbidity, self-mutilation, and decapitation while whimsically traipsing along in a bizarre land chock-full of eldritch creatures.
From there, they tag along with eccentric beings and eventually meet the stuffed Scarecrow who wished he had a brain except that his head is full of straws , the squeaky and rusty Tin Woodman who lost his heart literally , and the Cowardly Lion who's always terror-stricken.
Hoping that each of their wishes would be granted, they travel to the Emerald City where the wonderful wizard, Oz the Great and Terrible, is enthroned. The great wizard will only grant their heart's desires on the condition that they seek out and destroy the Wicked Witch of the West. And so their quest begins My inner kiddo didn't quite approve of this one. The magical elements were good, but not enthralling at all. Was this written specifically for children?
I find this story highly disturbing and better suited for mature audiences please refer to my first paragraph. Honestly, I prefer Dahl's and Carroll's stories because illogical as it might seem, the whimsical and hilarious elements fuse well together to create an entertaining, comical narrative whilst masking the macabre portion of the book, i. The first few pages were wonderful to read, especially when Dorothy's house, unfortunately, landed on a despicable victim.
The Queen of the Field Mice was a delightful character. Others belong in town dullsville. There's educational value here, but the moral lesson that Baum wanted to impart the children can be found in other interesting novels out there. There's no doubt that it was successful in its own time, but I find this a dated fantasy tale in the present. I have to congratulate Michael Sieben for his remarkable illustrations as well as Anne Hathaway's stupendous narration though.
However, the aforementioned works didn't save this novel from my dismal rating of 2. View all 59 comments. I honestly had pretty low expectations going into this book and thought it wouldn't compare at all to the greatness of the movie which is one of my favorite movies , but I was wrong. It was one of the best children's classics that I've ever read and I even loved how it wasn't that similar to the movie, so it kept me interested. I also had a beautiful hardcover Puffin Classics edition, so that make the experience even better!
All in all, I'm so glad that I had to read it for my class! View all 3 comments. This is one of the most bizarre books I've ever read. The fantasy elements are all rather ordinary. S Lewis would soon follow suit and inspire later generations. But the point is the Land of Oz is just weird. Seems like a bland criticism, though the entire point of the plot is to have good triumph over evil. But what is evil? Is she really that bad? It seems unusual to create such an evilly induced character and then have her preform no evil; it sort of makes the whole moral of the story seem questionable.
Are they evil heroes? Dorothy is completely unheroic. All her success is down to unbelievable blind luck; it gets to the point that she performs a completely random action, like throwing water at someone, and she somehow saves the day.
The Tin Woodsman is an even stranger figure. For me this was slightly hypocritical. It made little sense. I think for a child who just sees the basic plot of this, they would easily become lost. I could go on to explain how the structure is a slight mess. But as an actual novel, the progression of chapters really is quite poor.
I picked out two points where the novel really should have ended; yet, it kept going on when the climax had finished and all momentum has been lost. For me this book is an example of an overly hyped cultural phenomenon. Everyone my age I have ever met has watched the film at some point in their life; the basic narrative is embodied into their cultural psyche, which happens with many literary classics of this type. The point is the book here is a very different thing.
I implore everyone who bases their knowledge, and perhaps love, of this on the movie to actually sit down and read the horrendous work in question; then you may see what it actually is: a vile little story that is accidently evil. This one was quite a shocker! View all 21 comments. Aug 21, Evgeny rated it it was amazing Shelves: children.
Some books are so well-known practically every person who has even a very brief knowledge of general literature knows that these books are about. In the light of this I really have no clue why I would bother to outline the plot of this one, but just in case somebody managed to miss it here goes. A little girl is transported into a magical land where she meets all kinds of magical creatures.
She goes to visit the greatest wizard of the land hoping he would help her to get home. I want to get some Some books are so well-known practically every person who has even a very brief knowledge of general literature knows that these books are about.
I want to get something off my chest right away, something what goes against the popular opinion: I think the book is better than the classic movie. Judy Garland was great, sure. Some of the songs were equally great, sure. I insist the book is still better I wonder how many of my friends would de-friend me for saying so. If you do, I understand: no hard feelings.
I read the novel quite a few times starting all the way back when I was a child. I still enjoyed it during my latest reread and I found some things I missed during my childhood, like the following passage: So she told him all about Kansas, and how gray everything was there, and how the cyclone had carried her to this queer land of Oz. The Scarecrow listened carefully, and said, "I cannot understand why you should wish to leave this beautiful country and go back to the dry, gray place you call Kansas.
It is fortunate for Kansas that you have brains. From the book's introduction I understand that Baum decided to write a children book purely for entertainment and not as a morality tale which was the case with the majority of children literature at the time.
He created a timeless classic whose influence can be seen in a lot places - sometimes very much unexpected like here: My personal rating would be 4 stars, but I cannot help raising it by one for its classic status and huge influence, so 5 stars it is. View all 33 comments. To Oz? To Oz! The film version of The Wizard of Oz is such an important part of American history that I most likely had it memorized by the time I was eight years old. Between the music, images changing from black and white to color, and the defeat of a wicked witch, the movie was simply magical.
Being a tomboy, however, my reading interests as a child were never inclined toward classic books such as Little Women and, of course, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Having my interest piqued by the yearly To Oz? Having my interest piqued by the yearly viewing of this movie at Thanksgiving, I decided to finally read this children's classic book for myself. Lyman Frank Baum had been struggling in business and needed to be able to support his family of five children. Life in the circus had failed, so he turned to writing.
Morally supported by his wife Maud, Baum turned to writing enduring children's classics like the ones he grew up reading. Setting out to write a classic piece of children's literature, Baum started the saga of Dorothy of Kansas that later became the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. When Baum died unexpectedly of a heart attack in , he had penned one Oz story a year since His family had moved to the sleepy village of Hollywood, and the Baum family lived off of royalties generated from the Oz books and subsequent attempts at stage versions.
The first story entitled the Wonderful Wizard of Oz was the most successful and lead to Baum leading the writing life that he strived to attain as a child. Frank Baum , Wizard of Oz. Bookmark the permalink. I actually wrote a eulogy for the Muppets after that one; I honestly believed they would never come back from that disaster. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account.
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How many Oz movies are there, anyway? Oz the Great and Powerful And upcoming… L. And we could still be here watching these for weeks. Like this: Like Loading About blakemp Blake M. Geek Pundit. View all posts by blakemp ». Leave a comment Comments 1. Jim MacQ. April 3, at pm. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here
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