Reader discussion: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Public reader discussion about The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the WeRead Catalog by L. Frank Baum.

Anyone Else Read Most/All Of The Oz Books?

By Blue_Lantern93

Maybe I’m just getting old, but it feels like the Oz books don’t come up much around here. Don’t they count as one of those early long fantasy series with the same main characters and kind of an ongoing overall story? I mean, there’s a ton of magic and some worldbuilding beyond just Oz—like those other magical places beyond the Deadly Desert. I grew up on them: the 16-ish Baum wrote, and then the next group from Ruth P. Thompson (though honestly they weren’t quite as good on the storytelling). I never really read the handful of “modern” ones that came out later in the last century. Anyway, that’s pretty much where my love of fantasy started—before I ever got into Tolkien in junior high and high school. Did any of you read them, especially the Baum books? And did you enjoy them too?

Wizard of Oz Books Insane?

By TompiperRed

I’ve definitely watched the movie, but I’ve been thinking about picking up the books lately. I’ve heard they’re kind of… wild? Like, they’re supposed to be kids books, but there’s this real creepy edge to them. Is that actually true? If it is, that sounds pretty interesting. I always find it weird/fascinating how fairy tales change over time, and how something that used to feel innocent can feel off or creepy now. 😅

[deleted by user]

By Orbit-Mountain

The links are kind of helpful, and I’m not sure what the wiki page is, but it might be worth checking.

TIL L. Frank Baum, who styled himself as the Royal Historian of Oz, set the Land of Oz as being a real place on Earth that was hidden, rather than a magical other world. Evidence in the books suggests it is on an island in the Pacific Ocean.

By eclipse_cloudy3

Baum’s stuff felt kind of scattered across the whole series, and I know some people think it’s “too much” with the whole 14 Oz books he wrote and then the publishers pushing out another 26 after he died. Even with all that, I can’t really make it fit in a world where the Pacific had already been mapped out completely. I’ve also heard the story that Glinda and Princess Ozma put some kind of shield around Oz so nobody could get in or even spot it without permission. But it doesn’t really say that shield covered the rest of that continent-area it’s supposedly on, so that part feels weird to me too.

Based on Frank L. Baum's opinions and activities, how much historical weight is behind the notion that The Wizard of Oz was written as a political allegory? Was it widely recognized as such when it was first published?

By Cricket1980

I remember hearing this on the BBC podcast In Our Times (it’s my second favorite), in the episode about the American populist movement. But aside from just pulling metaphors out of it, is there actual evidence? Like, what if you sit and think about it while listening to Dark Side of the Moon, and compare it to the 19th-century gold standard system—does that really hold up?

When reading Wicked, I found myself really wanting a story about the Wizard’s rise to power as ruler of Oz

By StampGlad5

The whole thing is just plain weird, honestly, and there’s this odd sexual vibe running through it that keeps making me think of Ron Howard’s live action Grinch movie. Even so, Gregory Maguire does a really good job of making the Wizard of Oz feel like this constant, oppressive presence over almost the entire book, except maybe the opening, and he turns him from a silly incompetent guy into someone genuinely scary and powerful. You never really get the full story of how or why the wizard ended up in Oz. Little bits and pieces here and there suggest it was through magic in some old book he somehow got his hands on. We also get a few really awful glimpses of what he’s like, and even in those small moments Maguire makes it clear how much ambition and ruthlessness he must’ve had just to make it to Oz in the first place, much less start taking it over.

TIL The main protagonist in the Wonderful Wizard Of Oz book was a originally meant to be a young boy, but after his infant niece Dorothy passed away, L. Frank Baum changed the character to help ease his wife's distress.

By listens_song1983

Honestly, even if she’s kinda accidental, I still think she makes a decent role model.

Judy Garland poses with a copy of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in a 1939 promotional still found in The Wizard of Oz.

By winter_rabbit29

Wait, this photo was in The Wizard of Oz too? What the hell?

I Did Not Know until today that L. Frank Baum wrote 3 of his Wizard of Oz books while staying at the Hotel Del Coronado. He was a frequent visitor from 1904 to 1917.

By Coral_Brush5

He was Matilda Joslyn Gage’s son-in-law—the famous suffragette. I think her place also served as a stop on the Underground Railroad, and now it’s turned into a museum up in upstate New York.

The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story (1990 - A Made for TV Movie)

By BookishDragon

A bunch of the multi-disc home releases of the 1939 movie have this, so if you’re trying to find a better quality copy, it’s probably your best bet. Shame though—still no Blu-ray upgrade yet.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

By Story_Ash

I’m thinking about rereading this on audiobook and I went to look on Hoopla/Libby, but I’m totally stuck on which version to pick. I’m trying to listen to the whole series—does anyone know which narrator matches which book?

The Wizard of Oz books

By SlowBucket

I just recently realized I’d never actually read the original Wizard of Oz books. I’m a big fan of Wicked and Gregory Maguire’s whole series, and of course I know the original stories from different movie and TV versions. Anyway, I finished the second book and a couple things have really jumped out at me so far. - Where did people get the idea that the Wicked Witch is green? She isn’t green in the original books. And the Emerald City only seemed that green because everybody had to wear green glasses when they came in. - The first time I heard Ozma was trans was from an old one-season sci-fi show, so I was honestly kind of surprised to find out that’s actually in book 2. It made me wonder if that’s part of why this book has ended up on ban lists. I guess people could argue she wasn’t, since magic. I know I had other thoughts after book 1 about stuff that’s changed through adaptations and we just kind of accept now, but I can’t remember them. Would be curious what other people think about these books.

Here's a question: The Icelandic version of Dracula is significantly different than the original English version, and no one knew for about a century. Are there other books whose translators took massive liberties with the text?

By readermouse83

I’m just wondering about this—like, I’ve heard the Icelandic version of Dracula is supposedly more “sexy” and the pacing feels quicker too. The books don’t necessarily need to be English, either direction, but I’m looking for cases where the book got changed a lot from one version to another. If anyone knows of specific examples, could you say what the differences actually are, and why the translator (or whoever made the changes) did it, if that info is available? Thanks!

TIL the original children's book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" was actually incredibly violent, with Dorothy and friends killing nearly 100 animals and people during their quest. Dorothy's trademark shoes were also silver, not ruby like the movie.

By midnightsummer

I’ve read 21 of the 40+ Oz books I’ve been able to find. It’s an actual place, not just some dream thing. Uncle Henry and Auntie Em even end up moving there in a later book.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

By springTiger9

So yeah, I’m kind of at a loss for what to do today, and I randomly started recording *The Wonderful Wizard of Oz* this morning. (It’s in the public domain, so that part feels nice.) I’m honestly enjoying going back through the story and thought I’d drop it here in case anyone wants to listen to yet another recording of the book. This one’s just the first seven chapters for now, but I plan to keep going.

Question About Prose: I knew a snob in college that claimed that L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) had the worst composed and stunted prose he's ever read. He gave a bunch of reasons but said them too fast Attached is a link to the public domain book. What do you all think about it?

By looksbridge

If you don’t want to go hunting for random links, here’s the setup: Dorothy’s out in the middle of the Kansas prairies with Uncle Henry (the farmer) and Aunt Em (his wife). Their place is tiny because the lumber had to be hauled forever, so it’s basically one room with four walls, a stove, a cupboard, a table, some chairs, and the beds in the corners. No attic, and no proper cellar either—just that little “cyclone cellar” hole you can get to through a trapdoor in the floor, with a ladder down into the dark. And yeah, I guess I’m kind of a snob, but I do think the opening works really well. It’s bare-bones and not super elaborate, but that’s the point. It kind of hits you with how bleak everything is, like the land and their life are both just… grim.

Just Finished Reading The Wizard of Oz to my Kids. What an Unexpectedly Strange Book.

By Cloud-Prose45

I figured going in that the book version of The Wizard of Oz wasn’t going to match the movie at all. I also knew it’s part of a whole bigger series, and it was written way over a hundred years ago, so I wasn’t sure my kids (5 and 7) would even get it. Still, I tried it. Wow. What a weird, fun book. It’s definitely different from the film, but the wild part is how some things line up immediately—like the whole Kansas in black-and-white, then Oz flips to color thing. That’s honestly the strangest detail. And the adventure felt more like The Hobbit than like some super-sweet candyland vibe. I’ll leave spoilers alone, but the Tin Man is a total badass with his axe, and the Scarecrow goes up against crows in this really intense way. The Wizard is way scarier too, and the witch kind of gets introduced and then basically melted in one chapter. Pretty chaotic. The whole thing is basically one subplot after another, but somehow there’s still a bigger theme running underneath. I also didn’t feel like it was dated at all—both the story pacing and the language seemed fine. My kids were hooked the whole time. Afterward they begged to watch the movie, and yeah… they weren’t thrilled. “Dorothy looked too old.” (she was) “I thought there would be more singing.” (there wasn’t) “And why didn’t the Tin Man just chop everyone’s heads off?” (I had no idea, other than maybe that would’ve been a big musical moment) If you want a quick read, I’d say check it out. It’s light fantasy for reading to kids, but it also feels like proper classic literature. And if you love Oz and want more of the backstory the movie is based on, this is where you’d get it—especially with the Tin Man stuff. Has anyone read the rest of the series? I haven’t told my kids about them yet, but should I be?

PBS "American Oz" (2021) - The story of L. Frank Baum, the author of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." By the time "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" was published, Baum was 44 years old and had spent much of his life in restless pursuit of success, from chicken breeder to traveling salesman. [1:52:52]

By springTiger9

I don’t even know how to say it, but it felt huge getting PBS on cable for free when I was a kid in Canada in the 90s.

Which is the most faithful film adaptation of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (other than and newer than the 1939 MGM musical film)?

By blankit

I feel like The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1986) sticks closest to the original novel. It seems like it gets a lot more loose with the later books, but the first one is pretty much right.

Are the Oz books not written by Baum any good?

By cipherSail937

I’ve been trying to get into more classic fantasy that’s before Tolkien, so I went ahead and tore through all of Baum’s stuff. I read the whole Oz series, plus Dot and Tot of Merryland, The Magical Monarch of Mo (I guess that’s the one that came first and feels like a real forerunner to Wizard of Oz), Queen Zixi, and Life of Santa Claus. Honestly, every single book felt weirdly magical in a way I can’t really describe, and I love them just as much now as I think I would have when I was a kid. But then I was looking into it and realized the Oz universe is way bigger than I thought, with more books in the “official” canon written by other people. Are any of those worth picking up, even if they probably won’t match Baum for the vibe, how it’s written, the characters, all that?