A review by karenluvstoread
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

4.0

Growing up, we had a TV with an antenna. Cable TV was available at the time, but we didn’t have it until later on in my teenage years. I can remember we could only pick up just a handful of stations on our TV with the antenna. And at some point when I was in elementary school, I remember my parents buying a VCR. A VCR! How exciting! We were actually able to watch movies that we could pick out at the local movie rental store. It was amazing! 

But you know what I have always remembered from those years of having a TV with an antenna? Waiting anxiously each year for three movies to air on one of the stations we could pick up with the antenna…The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, and The Wizard of Oz. It was always an exciting time for me when these movies came on; I looked forward to it each year. From the amazing Mary Poppins, to Maria singing Do-Re-Mi, to Dorothy, Toto and her three friends making their way to the Emerald City…great adventures awaited on the TV screen. 

Of those three movies, my mom especially loved The Wizard of Oz. She would crack us up with her imitation of the wicked witch of the west talking to Dorothy or proclaiming “I’m melting! I’m melting!” 
 

You can imagine that with such fond memories of anxiously awaiting to watch The Wizard of Oz each year when I was growing up, along with having a mother who loved the movie as well, it would’ve been a natural conclusion for me to read the book. But I didn’t.  Not until a few years ago. 

Even though the movie is called The Wizard of Oz, that title is actually the title of a whole series of books L. Frank Baum wrote. In fact, I understand that Baum wrote fourteen Oz books. The first in this series is the one I read, entitled The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. This first book is a timeless classic…well written and engaging. And I'm so glad I finally read it!