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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
THE book that brought me into reading in the first place when I was 10. The one that brought me to fantasy. It will always have a special place in my life, and no matter how much better books I have read or will read, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz will always be my irreplaceable.
adventurous
hopeful
Call it 3.5 stars.
A charming read, and one that holds up well. It's a children's book and (I imagine) would be excellent to read to a kid at bedtime. The story is familiar because of the movie, but different, with different and more details. The classic movie adds some things and leaves out much; they are both worthy in their own rights.
The edition I read has a short prefatory note by L. Frank Baum where he says (to paraphrase) that in this day and age (the 1920s), the classic fairy tales (think Grimm) are outdated and unnecessary, because they strive to teach children some moral via a usually violent episode. And so now the time has come for a new wave of children's stories that are purely for entertainment and devoid of moral tutelage. And that was his goal with the Oz books.
The odd thing is, there are a number of (good, subtle, not heavy-handed) moral lessons in this first Oz book, and I think this is something Baum should embrace. It's fine to teach lessons while entertaining; these are not mutually exclusive. In fact, in order to have a compelling story it's almost necessary to have characters who grow (or at least change, or learn something) as a result of their experiences. That's what we have here, and I think it's what makes at least this first book in the series worthy of reading, for kids of all ages, even all these years after its first publication.
Now on to the next--hopefully it'll be just as entertaining, and perhaps there will be accidental lessons in it, too.
A charming read, and one that holds up well. It's a children's book and (I imagine) would be excellent to read to a kid at bedtime. The story is familiar because of the movie, but different, with different and more details. The classic movie adds some things and leaves out much; they are both worthy in their own rights.
The edition I read has a short prefatory note by L. Frank Baum where he says (to paraphrase) that in this day and age (the 1920s), the classic fairy tales (think Grimm) are outdated and unnecessary, because they strive to teach children some moral via a usually violent episode. And so now the time has come for a new wave of children's stories that are purely for entertainment and devoid of moral tutelage. And that was his goal with the Oz books.
The odd thing is, there are a number of (good, subtle, not heavy-handed) moral lessons in this first Oz book, and I think this is something Baum should embrace. It's fine to teach lessons while entertaining; these are not mutually exclusive. In fact, in order to have a compelling story it's almost necessary to have characters who grow (or at least change, or learn something) as a result of their experiences. That's what we have here, and I think it's what makes at least this first book in the series worthy of reading, for kids of all ages, even all these years after its first publication.
Now on to the next--hopefully it'll be just as entertaining, and perhaps there will be accidental lessons in it, too.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
After watching Wicked, I've realized, I have no clue about the original story, no matter that I've watched some time ago the 1939 movie adaption. I had no memory of it, so I thought why not give this a try?
I guess this is not so bad of a children book, the main problem here is that I'm not the main audience for it. I see why it is successful, why it was successful, but for my taste, it's not great.
I do think it has a very powerful atmosphere, and the story can be captivating for a young mind, but for an adult (or at least me), it doesn't make it. Dorothy is bothersome, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Lion have an interesting view of killing others... I don't know, it's just hard to form an objective opinion about this (if it can be done at all), when millions of people love and adore this story.
Anyway, it was interesting to read about the wicked Witch of the East and the wicked Witch of the West after watching the movie, and also Glinda showed up which was a huge surprise, because she doesn't look like anything like in the movie at all... I know Wicked is based on another book series, but after all it should be the same universe?
But back to the original book: I do think it has everything a children's book need, sadly I couldn't appreciate it enough. For me, it was a jumble, but at least a magical jumble.
I guess this is not so bad of a children book, the main problem here is that I'm not the main audience for it. I see why it is successful, why it was successful, but for my taste, it's not great.
I do think it has a very powerful atmosphere, and the story can be captivating for a young mind, but for an adult (or at least me), it doesn't make it. Dorothy is bothersome, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Lion have an interesting view of killing others... I don't know, it's just hard to form an objective opinion about this (if it can be done at all), when millions of people love and adore this story.
Anyway, it was interesting to read about the wicked Witch of the East and the wicked Witch of the West after watching the movie, and also Glinda showed up which was a huge surprise, because she doesn't look like anything like in the movie at all... I know Wicked is based on another book series, but after all it should be the same universe?
But back to the original book: I do think it has everything a children's book need, sadly I couldn't appreciate it enough. For me, it was a jumble, but at least a magical jumble.
adventurous
relaxing
fast-paced
Jeg havde relativt lave forventninger til denne her fordi man jo altid kun hører om filmen og måske er jeg lidt biased fordi det er den første "rigtige" bog jeg har læst højt for min søn, men jeg var rigtig glad for den! Jeg synes den var let tilgængelig og hyggelig trods nogle mørke toner. En bonus var at min udgave ihvertfald har nogle fine tegninger i hvert kapitel.