Am I the last person to read The Wizard of Oz? I think I must be, which is one of the reasons that I picked it as our wrap-up-the-school-year read-aloud. I don’t know that there is much that I can say about the book that probably hasn’t been said somewhere else (and better), but it was an interested read from the perspective of someone that grew up only watching the movie. You know, way back when it was on TV only one night of the year and not to be missed! This is one of my favorite movies of all time though surprisingly not one that I have shown my kids many times. The big girls have maybe seen it once … I’m not sure if B has ever seen it.
Anyway, since this is a little post about the book and not the movie, I digress. The book tells the story of young Dorothy who is swept off to the magical land of Oz during a prairie tornado. While there, she teams up with a scarecrow, and tin man, and a cowardly lion as they travel to the Emerald City to ask the Wizard of Oz for help with their respective problems. In many respects, this book was very similar to the movie, obviously. However, the book includes new characters such as the Winkies, the people of the China country, and some tiny mice that either try to thwart or aid Dorothy and Co. The famed flying monkeys also have a much larger role in the book than in the movie, and aren’t quite as scary as they appear on film.
While we enjoyed reading this story, I wasn’t as excited about it as some of the other books we have read-aloud. I knew what was coming and there were no exciting surprises or twists of character to look forward to. It surprised me how much that took from my enjoyment of the story. It reinforces to my why I almost always tell my kids we need to read the book first before watching the movie!
My thoughts, such as they are, on this American classic. : ) Linking up with Amy for Read Aloud Thursday!
Affiliate Amazon links included in this post, FYI.
I didn't love this book, either. I doubt my girls even remember it, actually, since we read it so long ago.
ReplyDeleteWe actually saw a local stage production of this last year.
We listened to it on audio book a couple years ago...It was interesting to observe the differences between the book and the movie, but I agree that it is less exciting to read a book like this aloud (or listen, as the case may be) when you know what is basically going to happen. For that reason I think I enjoyed listening to the audio books of a couple of the sequels even more...though after two more oz books, I was definitely ready to be done with them for a while!
ReplyDeleteI wondered about that ... I'm not sure I'll dive into the sequels right now either. Maybe some day. : )
Delete