Oz Books

[nixie]

Over the last few months I've been reading a lot of children/ya books.
After spotting the Complete OZ books I thought I'd give them a try.

Ideal nighttime reading for young children but enjoyable all the same.

One thing that did surprise me was Dorthy's slippers, I wont say anymore wouldn't want to spoil it for others.

I don't know how I managed to miss these as a child,as a 5-6 year old I know I would have loved these.

Anyone else read these as an adult?

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Yes, indeed. Wonderfully imaginative, and with a special "American" flavor that you don't often see in children's fantasy. Baum can have an interesting satiric touch at times, too. His character "General Ginjur" seems to be a gentle spoof of early feminists, and I can recall a scene where a phonograph comes to life and plays jazz, depicted in such a way that shows that Baum didn't care for that sort of thing.

I am particularly fond of the robot Tik-Tok. (I might mention here that Tik-Tok is also the title of a novel by John Sladek, and the name of its robot protagonist.)

The sex change which forms the basis of the plot in The Marvelous Land of Oz must have raised a few eyebrows.

I can highly recommend the 1985 movie Return to Oz, which really captures the special feeling of the books.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I read and reread The Wizard of Oz as a child, but I didn't know the other books even existed until I was eleven or twelve. I read most of them during my teens and early twenties. The ones that Baum wrote himself are full of life and whimsy; I don't care for the others.

I really should see about buying some of them for the grandchildren. They're about the right age to appreciate them.

 

[Alex The G and T]

I possess the family collection of 42 OZ books. (We're missing a couple)

Second that the dozen, or so, written by Baum are the best. Later authors have their moments; but it's hit or miss.

I read 'em all over and over, as a child.

I could not sell my own daughters on the things. As a read-aloud, they can get awful verbose, with a lot of fluff between the action.

As the cast of little girls grows (Betsy Bobbin, Trot, and after Tip turns back into Ozma) there are pages and pages of the girls professing their love for one another, in a most Victorian fashion.

I remember; when my Dad was reading them to me, before I learned to read; that he would do a lot of skimming and editing. At times, adding machine guns and basttleships.

My elder daughter enjoyed reading some of them; but the younger just wasn't having it.

To answer the question... no I haven't read them at all recently, other than a few attempts to read some of them to my kids. That's been a long time, too.

They're a bit of a hard sell among today's action-packed children's entertainment.

*****

And another second: Return to Oz is, absolutely, the best Oz movie ever made.

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

I loved these books as a young teen. My family had some of the first editions of many of Baum's OZ books, which I recently inherited. Unfortunately, we don't have the first two books. I read Wizard of Oz on my Kindle recently, and plan on picking up The Marvelous Land of Oz for the Kindle soon. Then I will re-read the physical books I have.

I have wonderful memories of these books, so I'm quite looking forward to reading them again.

 

[j d worthington]

Read the first back when I was a child; read the rest (by Baum)*, except for the Little Wizard Stories volume, which for some reason I never did get around to reading, when I was an adult. I think I enjoyed them even more then than I would have at a younger age, due to the way they were written... yet I've known children recently who love the things, so not entirely out of touch with the younger set.

I, too, will add my hearty recommendation to Return to Oz. A sadly underrated film....

*Never did get around to the ones by Ruth Plumly Thompson or others...

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I read what I thought to be all of the Oz books as a kid, a teenager, and likely a young adult, and I have a big omnibus volume that says it is complete, but I am shocked at the number of (ha) 42! I'm thinking a dozen or so, without looking at the big book.

I read the original to my daughter this summer, but she was pretty worn out on it by the end, so we didn't continue on into the big book. Perhaps in a couple of years -- she's very fantasy-heavy, so I anticipate that she will like the books from my childhood, though we aren't quite there yet.

Anyway, I always loved them!

 

[Nesacat]

I was read the ones by Baum as a child and then read them myself in my teens. I can't get into the others but have gone back to the Baum ones over the years.