The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

By L. Frank Baum

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a children's novel written by L. Frank Baum. The story chronicles the adventures of a young girl named Dorothy Gale in the Land of Oz, after being swept away from her Kansas farm home in a cyclone.

Dorothy is a young orphaned girl raised by her Uncle Henry and Aunt Em in the bleak landscape of a Kansas farm. She has a little black dog Toto, who is her sole source of happiness on the dry, gray prairies. One day the farmhouse, with Dorothy and Toto inside, is caught up in a cyclone and deposited in a field in Munchkin Country, the eastern quadrant of the Land of Oz. The falling house kills the evil ruler of the Munchkins, the Wicked Witch of the East.

The Good Witch of the North comes with the Munchkins to greet Dorothy and gives Dorothy the Silver Shoes (believed to have magical properties) that the Wicked Witch of the East had been wearing when she was killed. In order to return to Kansas, the Good Witch of the North tells Dorothy that she will have to go to the "Emerald City" or "City of Emeralds" and ask the Wizard of Oz to help her. Before she leaves, the Good Witch of the North kisses her on the forehead, giving her magical protection from trouble.

On her way down the road of yellow bricks, Dorothy frees the Scarecrow from the pole he is hanging on, restores the movements of the rusted Tin Woodman with an oil can, and encourages them and the Cowardly Lion to journey with her and Toto to the Emerald City. The Scarecrow wants to get a brain, the Tin Woodman wants a heart, and the Cowardly Lion wants courage. All four of the travelers believe that the Wizard can solve their troubles. The party finds many adventures on their journey together, including overcoming obstacles such as narrow pieces of the yellow brick road, vicious Kalidahs, a river, and the Deadly Poppies.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookRix
• Release date: Oct 16, 2018
• ISBN: 9783736801721

L. Frank Baum

L. Frank Baum (1856-1919) was an American author of children’s literature and pioneer of fantasy fiction. He demonstrated an active imagination and a skill for writing from a young age, encouraged by his father who bought him the printing press with which he began to publish several journals. Although he had a lifelong passion for theater, Baum found success with his novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), a self-described “modernized fairy tale” that led to thirteen sequels, inspired several stage and radio adaptations, and eventually, in 1939, was immortalized in the classic film starring Judy Garland.

Reviews for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

[bicyclewriter · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a fun children's book - I like the story more than the hollywood version.

[karin7-11 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved this when I was little. My dad read it to me when I was about 4 or 5 & then I read it when I wasn't much older. I recently reread it, though, and have to say that I probably like the movie better.

[caseybp · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A treasure of American Literature.

[crunchymunchkin · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In most cases, I prefer the original books over their movie adaptions.The Wizard of Oz, however, took the best from the source material and embellished what was missing, adding what they needed to in order to create a truly magical experience that has endured to this day. Whereas the movie is tightly scripted, the book meanders and includes somewhat unnecessary (and violent) encounters with killer bees, evil crows and bloodthirsty wolves. Surprising really, considering Baum did not intend for it to be as violent as fairytales of the past.

[nancy1janes · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An old classic. A marvelous imaginative work that takes us to a world where what is seen is not always the reality. The land of Oz is inhabited by many odd beings who help Dorothy to find her way home, a wiser little girl, from her great adventure.

[santhony_35 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

For Christmas, I ordered an mp3 player (Library of Classics) that was pre-loaded with 100 works of classic literature in an audio format. Each work is in the public domain and is read by amateurs, so the quality of the presentation is hit or miss. The Wizard of Oz is an iconic motion picture, from a children’s book written by L. Frank Baum. Everyone should be familiar with the movie, and while the book is obviously very similar, it contains quite a bit of extra material as well as a few major differences. For example, in the book, Dorothy does not wear ruby red slippers, but silver shoes instead.This book is an excellent beginner book for young readers, though there is perhaps more violence than some may consider appropriate for very young children. Highly recommended.

[kate_schulte078 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book would be good to use when talking about fantasy. I think students will like this because of the adventure the main character goes on.

[jljaina · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Rating is closer to 3.5 stars. I have parts about this I loved and parts that bothered me so my thoughts a left a jumbled mess. First off, if you do not know this story, go learn about it. Everyone should know the Wizard of Oz and most of us do. Although I think many of us are more familiar with the movie. The story concept is just great and one I have always loved and all that credit goes to the author.

Now, I must admit I like the movie more than the book. While the basic story is great and Dorothy being a little girl does put a more child-like quality of the book there is a lot of violence in this story. The Tin Man's story is both sad and horrifying and might be a bit much for a young child to handle. And the neck breaking, limb lopping as they make their way across Oz was harsh. While it is not very graphic in description it is still easy to visualize. So while the story is written in a style for young children, about half the content is on the mature side.

This is a short story being between 110-140 pages (depending on the pictures of various editions). The chapters are short and the pace is fast. A lot happens in that time. It is still a fantastical adventure and in some ways getting the back story of the characters added to it's enrichment.

There are quite a few differences from the movie to the book. From the house Dorothy green up in, the Ruby vs silver slippers, the Winged Monkeys, The Emerald City, etc. It was very interesting to see and discover the differences. One thing that really jumped out at me was how each character acted versus what they kept saying they wanted from the Wizard. Amusing aspect to the story, making it all the more endearing.


Overall enjoyable. I am curious to continue the series yet there is no feeling of needing to rush to the next book. It is a series to read at leisure. I advise caution for young children for this book. If a movie copied the details of the book, it would not be rated G. So just a heads up, I advise you to read it before your child does if allowing them to read this at a young age.

[joeydag · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I was too young to understand this book and it has been too long ago for me to remember what it was like to be a teenager boy reading about a young woman's life and challenges.

[davidtaylorjr-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

There are not many times when the movie is better than the book, but this is one of those times.

[klburnside · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I bought this book at a little independent bookstore in Bardstown, Kentucky, because I really liked the bookstore and wanted to support it. I'm really not sure why I chose the Wizard of Oz, other than that I've never read it and it was cheap.

I really liked the book at the beginning, it was just simple and magical and took you off into another world. By the end I got kind of bored with the lack of complexity. I think it would be a fun book to read aloud to a child, but it doesn't go on my list of favorite children's books.

It was really interesting to see how the book compared to the movie. I want to see the movie again, but mostly what I want to see is the made for tv movie, the Dreamer of Oz, which tells the story of L. Frank Baum writing the book. Do any of my sisters remember if this is one our tapes we think was lent to the Nolans?

[jean_sexton-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was tucked in behind Wicked and came as one long ebook. I enjoyed the whimsy of a simpler time. I particularly liked re-reading it because it took the bad taste out of my mental mouth that Wicked left.

[sigmundfraud · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A beautiful edition of The Wizard of Oz with magnificent illustrations by Zwerger, Lisbeth . I read this book with the children that I teach. It such a wonderful story. I have used it before with the kids and they always like. Like many books we read together they had seen the movie.

[damemuriel · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'm amazed by the reviews that insinuate that the book isn't as good as the movie. I enjoyed the movie growing up but didn’t like it as much after I saw Return to Oz, which I thought was a much better (and more frightening) film and, as it turns out, a more faithful adaptation of the Oz books. Actually, Return to Oz prompted me to read the Oz books. If you still think the MGM musical is the bee's knees, then the book may not be to your liking. I, however, think it is fantastic. This book may seem dated and the action slow-moving but it was written at a time when people actually had attention spans and children weren't addicted to electronic devices. Be patient with it.

[jnwseid · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This classic tale tells the story of Dorothy's journey to the strange and magical land of Oz, and the her many travails along the road home. This book is great for children starting in elementary school and up through middle school. It can also be read as a historical document in the context of American history and the election of 1896.

[kdmdr · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dorothy and her dog Toto are in their house in Kansas.Suddenly it is swept away in a hurricane.When the hurricane stops, they find that they have been transported to a magical world.This is a good fantasy book.I have heard the title, but I didn't read it.I enjoyed reading.

[daniel5estes · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This Spanish language version of The Wizard of Oz contains the original W. W. Denslow art work, which is a beautiful story in itself. I am a Spanish language learner and still very much a beginner. I know the story of the Wizard of Oz, which helped with my comprehension, but I most certainly did not fully understand each and every page.Full comprehension didn't matter to me. I had fun pronouncing all the words as best I could, including Dorothy's good friends: El Espantapájaros (The Scarecrow), El Leñador de Hojalata (The Tin Woodsman), and El Léon Cobarde (The Cowardly Lion).

[mainrun · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I read this book because the movie was referenced in Stephen King's, "Wizard and Glass (4th Dark Tower Book)." I couldn't wait for it to be over. Surprising how bluntly violent parts of it was. "So the Woodman raised his axe, and as the wildcat ran by he gave a quick blow that cut the beast's head clean off from its body, and it rolled over at his feet in two pieces." They don't write children books like that anymore. The Gunslinger books referenced the movie more than this book, I think.

[gaskella_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Wizard of Oz is one of our favourite family films at Gaskell Towers, and my daughter and I are really looking forward to going to see the new production at the Palladium during the Easter hols. It struck me though that I’d never actually read the original book, and the OUP very kindly sent me a copy of the Oxford World Classics edition – which has a lot of extra material for grown-ups about the history of Baum and his Oz stories, plus some of the original illustrations. I was amazed to find out that the story was originally published in 1900, and it had had stage, film and musical versions just a few years later. Of course, it was the advent of Technicolor that made possible the different film musical we all know and love much later in 1939. In the notes, I also found that Baum got the name for the world of Oz from his filing cabinet O-Z.For the rest of this post, I am assuming you’ve seen the film and know the basic story, so for no spoilers stop reading now.The story itself is both the same and very different to the film – notably, Dorothy’s slippers are silver not ruby (changed to take advantage of Techicolor, red shoes being such objects of desire!). The obvious initial difference though is that there is no character-building extended introduction with Dorothy running away from Miss Gulch, finding Professor Marvel; no time to wistfully sit and hope for better times around the corner. We are introduced to the gray prairies of Kansas …"When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see nothing but the great gray prairie on every side. Not a tree nor a house broke the broad sweep of flat country that reached the edge of the sky in all directions. The sun had baked the plowed land into a gray mass, with little cracks running through it. Even the grass was not green, for the sun had burned the tops of the long blades until they were the same gray color to be seen everywhere. Once the house had been painted, but the sun blistered the paint and the rains washed it away, and now the house was as dull and gray as everything else.When Aunt Em had come to live there she was a young, pretty wife. The sun and wind had changed her, too. They had taken the sparkle from her eyes and left them a sober gray; they had taken the red from her cheeks and lips, and they were gray also. She was thin and gaunt, and never smiled, now."… very depressing indeed. Then it’s straight into the cyclone, and off to Oz. Baum’s original Oz is a darker place – still full of colour, but much more menacing. The party seeking the Emerald city have to fight off many marauders and have much cause to be thankful for the Tin Woodsman’s sharp axe and the Lion’s claws. After the balloon goes up, they go on another supplementary quest to find Glinda, the Witch of the South so Dorothy can get home, and we meet the denizens of the Dainty China Country, the Hammer-heads and the Quadlings before Dorothy learns she had the means of her return on her feet all the time. Interestingly she says ‘Take me home to Aunt Em‘ rather than ‘There’s no place like home‘ while clicking her heels together, and Aunt Em is the first person she sees in the short final chapter.Theories about the book being an economic and political allegory abound. I don’t know anything about turn of the century American politics, so can’t comment on that. However it’s clear that Baum appreciated the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, wanting to write a less horrific modern fairy-tale that combined the fantastic with home comforts. Apparently Dorothy is influenced by Carroll’s Alice, but whereas I love Alice’s questionning nature, I do find Dorothy rather too ready to accept her role as a future wife and housekeeper – the home comforts loving side of her nature is too submissive for me. I mean, she would never have managed to kill the Wicked Witch of the West if she’d not had a bucket of water ready for washing the floor!This was an interesting book to read. It would be nice if today’s children would continue to read it.

[catalogthis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I found it difficult to read this without the ghosts of the MGM musical and Gregory Maguire's [book: Wicked] and [book: Son of a Witch] lurking over my shoulder.Definitely liked it more than the musical -- no offense to Judy Garland. Dorothy's comrades are much more interesting in the original, especially little Toto.***August 2008 selection of the GB Book Club.***

[laurakurtz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a classic tale of the orphan Dorothy and Toto, transported from Kansas to the land of Oz, where she tries to get home and help her friends along the way. they gain love, courage, and brains from her, and she goes home safely in the end after several hardships.

[primayu_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In this story a cyclone hits Dorothy's house in Kansas and, the cyclone caries Dorothy and her little dog Toto to a faraway land called "The land of Oz".There, she meets four new friends...The Scarecrow, The Tin Woodman and The Cowardly Lion.You've seen the movie, but do you know the REAL story?This is one of the my all time favorites. The picture above is the actual book given to me as a child. Since then I have read it many times to my children and then my grandchildren

[gatha_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read "the wizard of oz" when I was a child,but i did not remember the story too much, so i trid to read it. I thought it very interesting. I like the characters in the story because they has originarity. Especially, I like rion which is coward .In addition to, I like the wizard of oz because I like his magic. It is not real magic, but it can help many people and things. I think he is a coward and dishonest, but kind person.this story very unique. i have never read such a unique story since i have ever read.

[she_climber · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book! I've seen the movie several times but I can't believe how much I enjoyed the story. The little things that were different, the big things that are different. No wonder this is such a timeless classic.

[snakeshands · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Having not come across this one in a very long time, my thoughts: So much stranger than the film, for sure. Also so much funnier, and far more cynical, despite the amusing little bit at the beginning from Baum about how fairy tales where bad things happen are obsolete. Less recognized as such, but this is nearly as loony as Alice in Wonderland--especially in that very same hyper-episodic feeling, where he just throws idea after idea after idea at you, with barely time to hold onto the characters or figure out what just happened before he skips along giddily to the next. I'm very, very glad I reread this one, and onwards to the Marvelous Land (got myself this Borders collection of the first seven Oz books for a very reasonable price, and I'm just having at them.).

[lizzybeans11 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I thought I should get around to actually reading the original stories as I have been a life-long fan of the 1939 movie and quite enjoy the book and subsequent musical Wicked. L. Frank Baum's inaugural story was fantastic. It is a classic fairy-tale but instead of being set in a nondescript European atmosphere, it derives it's wonder from a middle-American setting. There are instances of the juvenile in his writing, but then again, Baum did have a very young audience in mind. It's so easy to forget that our beloved films and spin-offs come from a beautiful and solid base, such as Baum's original series. Highly recommended.

[sturlington_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the first chapter book I managed to read all the way through to my son. I don't think I had ever sat down and read it myself before. This is a good book for reading aloud to very young children, because the characters are very simple, and their goals are crystal clear and reinforced through constant repetition. Scarecrow wants a brain, Tin Woodman wants a heart, Cowardly Lion wants courage, Dorothy wants to go home to Kansas. It was no problem for my 4-year-old to follow the story or to be excited by the simple adventures the characters have. I was surprised that there were quite a few sly jokes thrown in as well, which go right over the head of a young reader but are amusing for adults. My son hasn't seen the movie, so he had no preconceptions, which helps since the book differs in many ways from the film. We also both enjoyed the whimsical illustrations in the Puffin Classics edition. I hope to find other children's books we can enjoy together, and I intend to mine the classics for them.

[bereneezypie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really loved this book. It's a classic. Although, at times, I felt the movie was probably a bit better, but still a must-read. I thought the book was much more childlike than the movie and was much more in the perspective of a child.

[mirrani_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The charming writing style of Baum reminds me of listening to stories made up at bedtime or around the camp fire. The descriptions of places and the actions of the characters are just enough to keep the plot flowing, but are not so heavy that they drag down the motion either. Baum has a way of describing something so that your mind knows exactly what the thing looks like without having to give a lot of time that would take away from the action.Each character shares the same adventure, but along the way has smaller personal adventures that prove that what they seek is really what they have all along. The reader knows this, but the characters never really do, which is also an interesting idea. This classic stays in the hearts and minds of young children all the way through their adulthood and is always worth reading over and over as we grow up, just to prove that in our hearts we can still be young again.

[sedelia_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I can't believe that after all this time of watching the movies and reading the books derived from the original story, I've never read the original! The Wizard of Oz is a cute, fun kid's adventure story that I could see young children absolutely loving. It is a bit simplistic in terms of writing and storytelling, but the message is timeless, and that counts for something. Careful parents -- this is the kind of story children ask to read over and over and over again.And I would just like to say that I really like the message of this novel. I think it's gotten lost within the numerous retellings over the years, but I thought it was really heartwarming and a good thing for kids to hear. I do wish the witch were a bit more evil and scary, though. She seemed more of a side character than anything, which was strange, again, after seeing/reading all the adaptations.As for the narration, it was good -- good pacing, intonation, etc. Fields makes sure to give everyone distinctive voices and does a good job at that. However, it contains nothing spectacular that would make me recommend it over the print version. I think reading either version is fine, it would just depend on your preference. I do, however, recommend reading it. It is slightly dated and I think adults would like it for its cultural history, not necessarily because of its inherent entertainment value (Although I'm still reeling over the whole silver slippers instead of ruby slippers thing. So weird!). But I'm sure that kids will love it!