level1055's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Spoiler
As I was reading, I thought (initially) about how this book should only be recommended to people whose children are boys with blue eyes cause L. Frank Baum tried to emphasise twice how "Blue paint is just the colour for eyes." Till I was hit with straight up hebephilia as it read "At last, however, she found a boy who was handsome and manly and wise beyond his years. Gayalette made up her mind that when he grew to be a man she would make him her husband." So, protect your kids and stay away from this book.I completely forgot to mention why little should not be exposed to this because I really do not wish for any child to start worrying about ageist beauty standards when they have not even entered teenage yet - "" I have heard that Glinda is a beautiful woman, who knows how to keep young in spite of the many years she has lived.""
This book can also become cruel for kids with disabilities and skin conditions cause "Now there is Mr. Joker, one of our clowns," continued the china lady, "who is always trying to stand upon his head. He has broken himself so often that he is mended in a hundred places, and doesn't look at all pretty. Here he comes now, so you can see for yourself."" To be honest, that entire scene is meant for the trash.
Maybe we should take it the way L. Frank Baum intended it to be when he said "Yet the old time fairy tale, having served for generations, may now be classed as" historical" in the children's library; for the time has come for a series of new "wonder tales"... ". Whatever he thought could please the children of his time, is no longer a story that should be narrated to kids that could not only be harmful to them but also to their friends around them, especially now that we know how dangerous, reckless, ignorant and hurtful some of those ideologies are!
😔
🙏
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Minor: Ableism, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Mental illness, Body shaming, and Adult/minor relationship
Hebephilia, to be specific. Also, ageist. 🙏
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