cocoonofbooks 's review for:

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz （Illustrated） by L. Frank Baum

3.0

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I always thought I'd read this before, but I guess not. I have of course seen the classic movie many times (my sister watched it something like twice a day for several months while growing up), but it was interesting to see which aspects came directly from the book and which were altered or not included. I'm not sure if I would want to read this to my kids, as some parts were quite complex and involved and others could potentially be scary. It's funny to me that Baum says in his introduction that he wanted to write a fairy tale that wasn't as dark as those of Grimm and Anderson, and while that's certainly the case, this book has some parts that you would never see in today's children's books (such as the Scarecrow essentially getting dismembered). As far as classics go, this is a enjoyable story, but it's not a children's book I'm eager to share or re-read.