kcarlson1152
11/13/2015
My family loved reading books aloud and I am amazed we never read this one! The cadence of the writing lends itself perfectly to reading aloud and the chapters are a nice length. Three stars for a solid story but I think you have to read this one as a kid to really feel the magic. I picked this up because I'm reading classics and early (Pre-1920s) works of SF/Fantasy and at only 40,000 words it is a very fast read.
I was fortunate enough to choose the original illustrated edition and I must say the margin pictures added enjoyment to the story.
This is a children's story that is truly written for "modern" children rather than the moralistic, odd, and rather bloody fairy tales of Grimm, Lang, and Hans Christian Anderson. It's cute journey story and most of the "bad guy" deaths are bloodless (the beheading of the 40 wolves and killing of the 40 crows on the way to defeat the Wicked Witch of the West are the iffy ones). I see why Baum ended up writing a story a year until his death due to popular demand- I bet they were under many a Christmas tree year after year.
Overall, an old-fashioned american fairy-tale for reading aloud to grade-schoolers.