Book 52: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

I would assume that most people have heard of this story from one place or another, mostly from the 1937 film version.  It's been remade with everyone from Michael Jackson to the Muppets.  There are now book told from various points of view, most recently from the Wicked Witches vantage point in the book series Wicked.  I, myself, was only familiar with these retellings and had never experienced the original work, but I found myself wanting to explore these books (yes, it's a series) mostly as potential bedtime story material for my kids.  My oldest is getting to the age where he may have the attention span for longer books and this story seemed like something he might like.

The main characters of the book are the same you'd remember from any of the other material: Dorothy, Toto, the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion, the Witches (good and bad) and the Wizard of Oz.  There are a variety of minor characters, however, that were completely new to me.  Dorothy's journey to Oz is quite a bit more complicated in the book and she, therefore, visits a variety of new places, meets many interesting characters and has a number of odd adventures.

After reading the book, I now think of the book and movie as two completely different things.  The film is more stylish, it emphasizes and expands some aspects of the story (especially the conflict between Dorothy and the Wicked Witch) while omitting other sections.  It's a great story and, in it's way, faithful to the spirit of Baum's work, but it feels different, like a porcelain doll version of Raggedy-Ann.  The book is much more innocent.  It's a child's-eye view of the world.  Some of the situations and their solutions are nonsensical but they have an internal child's logic that makes it fun.

I definitely plan to read this book to my kids.  It's fun, it's interesting and it's well written.  I also plan to continue the series to see where it leads.  The movie wraps up pretty neatly at the end but the book leaves some room for sequels.  I'd recommend this book to anyone that enjoys children's literature or really anyone that likes light-hearted fantasy/adventure books.  9 out of 10.