A review by readingoverbreathing
The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

4.0

"No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home."

For me at least, this is one of those stories that had been absorbed in a variety of ways over the course of time, mainly, of course, through the 1939 film, but I know there were also other abridged versions I'd read as a child, as well as a production of Wicked I saw in sixth grade. After finally sitting down and reading this properly, I think one of those supposedly abridged versions may have actually been the full one, but there's no way to really know now, so I'm counting this as my first real read.

And despite my own intimacy with this story, I was surprisingly delighted by this read. There are a lot of small vignettes in this original which aren't included in the film, and so those details were most fun to recall. And because this is a children's book, its short, simple prose made it easy reading and really a joy to lightly delve into throughout this past month. I have to hand it to Baum for his creativity here; it's easy to tell why this little book has become so absorbed into popular culture as a classic.

I now really want to rewatch the film, as it's been years since I've actually seen it, and maybe dive a little more into this series beyond this first book while my interest is so piqued. I know there's more here I haven't necessarily discovered, and I might as well take advantage of that now.