The Wizard of Oz (Puffin Classics)
by L. Frank Baum
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 4255)
recommends it for:
Children, Teens
On a small Kansas farm, Dorothy Gale lives with her Uncle Henry and Aunt Em. As a tornado rips through the town in which they live, Uncle Henry and Aunt Em manage to retreat to the storm cellar for safety. Unfortunately, Dorothy doesn’t make it in time and the house, along with Dorothy and her dog Toto are whisked away into an unfamiliar place. The home lands in a beautiful setting called “The Land of Munchkins.” To Dorothy’s surprise, the house crushed the so called “Wicked Witc...more
On a small Kansas farm, Dorothy Gale lives with her Uncle Henry and Aunt Em. As a tornado rips through the town in which they live, Uncle Henry and Aunt Em manage to retreat to the storm cellar for safety. Unfortunately, Dorothy doesn’t make it in time and the house, along with Dorothy and her dog Toto are whisked away into an unfamiliar place. The home lands in a beautiful setting called “The Land of Munchkins.” To Dorothy’s surprise, the house crushed the so called “Wicked Witc...more
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Read in February, 2008
recommends it for:
Anyone, Parents who read to their children
Like many, my only exposure to The Wizard of Oz was from Victor Fleming’s classic movie. But, I was always drawn to the music more than the movie. (Harburg & Arlen were serious musicians.) I had always wondered what the story would have been with out the music.
As I read the book, I kept thinking of the line,”Never judge book by its movie.” The book was interesting and fun to read. Frank Baum’s story is robust and full, the characters well developed. The book differs widely ...more
As I read the book, I kept thinking of the line,”Never judge book by its movie.” The book was interesting and fun to read. Frank Baum’s story is robust and full, the characters well developed. The book differs widely ...more
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Read in June, 2008
Reading this gave me the utmost respect for the MGM screenwriters who adapted the tale for the big screen. Theirs is actually a much better story than Baum's. Baum's story, classic though it may be, is too terribly simple and carries no tension. The entire telling is rather ho-hum and contains none of the brilliant writing that worked its way into our pop culture. "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!"; "Not nobody not no how!"; "There's no place like h...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
all people
I have finally finished the book. It was good and I am glad that I am doing my book talk on it. The entire plot was great and I am glad that I read it. The story starts out with Dorothy, who is a small girl from Kansas who is in her house playing with her dog Toto. All of the sudden she sees a tornado outside and it was coming her way. She has no time to get to her cellar and so her house gets swept away and carried to a foreign land that she had never see before.
The characters were ...more
The characters were ...more
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I had not only watched the well known Wizard of Oz movie with Judy Garland first, but I'd also read the Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, as well as seen the Broadway musical of Wicked, before getting a chance to read this classic. Well, that's not entirely true, when I was young, my grandfather had started to read the book to me and my brother, but unfortunately we never...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
people who want to have read every classic
I know this is probably sacrilegious or something, but I was mostly just bored by this book. I know it's a kids book, but I guess I expected more. Everyone knows the basic story: Dorothy of Kansas gets swept away in a tornado, and ends up in some faraway land called Oz. She desperately wants to get back to Kansas and embarks on a quest to meet the most powerful wizard of the land, who people believe could help her get back. On the way she makes an odd combination of friends, each with some goofy...more
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Read in February, 2008
Coming from Kansas I always get comments like "where's Toto?" or "you are not in kansas anymore" and I politely laugh and put on a cheesy grin and think " ya like I haven't heard that one before."
So inorder to get over my hang up on the cutesy cliques I decided to listen to this book.
first off let me say it is highly imaginative and a good classic childrens tale but it is just that, a child's tale. I think it is pretty far streching when people start analyzing...more
So inorder to get over my hang up on the cutesy cliques I decided to listen to this book.
first off let me say it is highly imaginative and a good classic childrens tale but it is just that, a child's tale. I think it is pretty far streching when people start analyzing...more
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recommends it for:
anyone really
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
noone
This book was garbage.
Let me repeat: This book was/is/forever shall be garbage.
Yes, yes, I know I will get flamed for this, but this is just my opinion. The writing style reminds me of when I was in fourth grade and I wrote a six chapter book one hour before it was due. Ok, enough bashing.
I know this book is a "classic" but I was not impressed. The development of character or plot was completely non-existent. No one grows, no one learns anything, and there is no mora...more
Let me repeat: This book was/is/forever shall be garbage.
Yes, yes, I know I will get flamed for this, but this is just my opinion. The writing style reminds me of when I was in fourth grade and I wrote a six chapter book one hour before it was due. Ok, enough bashing.
I know this book is a "classic" but I was not impressed. The development of character or plot was completely non-existent. No one grows, no one learns anything, and there is no mora...more
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Read in November, 2007
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in September, 1993
Unfortunately I couldn't find the edition I have. This is due in large part to the fact that many of my books were once my parents and grandparents (I have the entire Nancy Drew collection from the 50's).
The Wizard of Oz series changed my life immensley. In second grade I was Dorothy for Halloween. However, everyone was confused by my silver shoes. Way to be, MGM! In sixth grade I dressed up as Ozma of Oz in a giant green ballgown and poppies in my hair. Everyone thought I was Frida Ka...more
The Wizard of Oz series changed my life immensley. In second grade I was Dorothy for Halloween. However, everyone was confused by my silver shoes. Way to be, MGM! In sixth grade I dressed up as Ozma of Oz in a giant green ballgown and poppies in my hair. Everyone thought I was Frida Ka...more
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I just finished reading aloud this book to my five year old daughter by her request. It had been years since I'd read it, and as an adult, I had started rereading the Oz books, only to put them down because they were so poorly written that I didn't want to ruin my good memories of them.
Suffice to say, the first Oz book is a satisfying read-aloud. Unlike the film, which was one glorious ball of anxiety from beginning to end, the book plods along at an agreeable pace. The dealings with the Wi...more
Suffice to say, the first Oz book is a satisfying read-aloud. Unlike the film, which was one glorious ball of anxiety from beginning to end, the book plods along at an agreeable pace. The dealings with the Wi...more
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Read in March, 2008
I've been meaning to read the original The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for years, but I just never got around to to it. I love the movie and I loved Wicked, but I'd never read the L. Frank Baum's book and I wondered how the newer interpretations were different.
The story itself was nearly flawless. I'm looking forward to making this a bedtime story for my future children. I loved all the details that the movie left out, but that Wicked referred to, like the Quadlings and th...more
The story itself was nearly flawless. I'm looking forward to making this a bedtime story for my future children. I loved all the details that the movie left out, but that Wicked referred to, like the Quadlings and th...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
kids and adults
Do you think you know this story? You might be pleasantly surprised. In preparation for seeing the Wizard of Oz at our local children's theater, we borrowed the unabridged CD of the original Wizard of Oz from the library. I am so glad! Not only have we repeatedly re-borrowed it, but we also checked out the print version with the kooky line drawings.
To my generation, "Wizard of Oz" means the creepy, iconic version starring Judy Garland. You remember -- the one with the night...more
To my generation, "Wizard of Oz" means the creepy, iconic version starring Judy Garland. You remember -- the one with the night...more
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Read in December, 2007
Think you know this story just because you've seen the movie? Think again. There is a lot more to the Wizard of Oz then what you see on the screen.
As classics go, this is one of the easier ones to read so I recommend it for anyone who would like to read the classics but often finds them daunting.
A highly entertaining novel, the book goes much more in depth with the fantasy land of Oz, naming several places and characters that you never meet in the movie, several of them surprisingly ...more
As classics go, this is one of the easier ones to read so I recommend it for anyone who would like to read the classics but often finds them daunting.
A highly entertaining novel, the book goes much more in depth with the fantasy land of Oz, naming several places and characters that you never meet in the movie, several of them surprisingly ...more
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Read in August, 2007
As the LOST book club book (www.washingtonpost.com/lost) for the month of August, The Wizard of Oz was a quick read. I'll be honest and say I was not looking forward to reading this book--mostly because the movie scares me (we'll blame it on wild childhood imagination run amok). Anyway, the book was pleasant and very fairytalish. I didn't know that Dorothy was younger, and the circumstances surrounding the Wicked Witches Death make...more
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Read in May, 2006
Still love this book. It’s funny, it’s got some real stinker bad pun jokes, and it’s got plenty of eyebrow raising moments. I forgot how streamlined the movie is and how it elevates the Wicked Witch of the West, who’s barely in the book and doesn’t cause any of the plagues on Dorothy & Co. except the ones on the Witch’s own doorstep. And the Witch doesn’t even have green skin! I love how the Witch gets pissy with Dorothy when she’s melting, like Dorothy’s a rude, bratty hou...more
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Read in January, 1988
I remember seeing the movie first, when I was very young, and then reading the first book a year or two later. I took a class in undergrad, largely devoted to comparing and contrasting the dangers of the capitalist city to the ideals of the pastoral where The Wizard of Oz was one of the books discussed. There were other interpretations involving various one-to-one correlations that I am not particuarly a fan of.
The story can mean a lot of things, I suppose. You probably can read it thin...more
The story can mean a lot of things, I suppose. You probably can read it thin...more
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It's possible that this book deserves a higher rating, but I read it so often as a child, that quite honestly I am sick of it and can't bring myself to give it more than 3 stars.
It must be a fairly good children's book though, since this was my favorite series when I was young (my first show-and-tell for first grade was that I had just finished reading every book in the Wizard of Oz series). All the same, I have read several of the books again since reaching adulthood to see how they've wit...more
It must be a fairly good children's book though, since this was my favorite series when I was young (my first show-and-tell for first grade was that I had just finished reading every book in the Wizard of Oz series). All the same, I have read several of the books again since reaching adulthood to see how they've wit...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
everyone
I can't believe that I hadn't read this before, as it's exactly the sort of thing that I would have loved as a kid. Reading it now, I still thoroughly enjoyed it, although I get the feeling that some of the passages that I found uproariously funny I would have taken at face value when I was a kid.
The book is very different from the movie, not necessarily as far as the storyline goes, although it was considerably more convoluted. Essentially, the same things happened, just not really in the...more
The book is very different from the movie, not necessarily as far as the storyline goes, although it was considerably more convoluted. Essentially, the same things happened, just not really in the...more
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