When young Dorothy and her dog Toto are caught in a cyclone, their Kansas farmhouse is carried off to the magical Land of Oz. Upon being told that the only way back is to follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City, home to the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy embarks on an extraordinary but perilous quest, in which the Wicked Witch of the West is constantly lurking around the corner.

With its unforgettable cast of now iconic characters such as the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was an instant hit when it was published over a century ago, inspiring numerous adaptations and sequels.

The story of Dorothy, her little dog Toto and the cyclone that took her from Kansas to the Land of Oz, has been recognised by the Library of Congress as ‘America’s greatest and best-loved homegrown fairy-tale’.

The original book by L. Frank Baum was published in 1900. Since then there have been numerous reprints of the book, plus movies, TV series, and stage shows.

You only have to put ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ into any search engine and it will bring up many, many sites that sell memorabilia. I wonder though how many of those that collect items, have been to watch the stage shows, and were enthralled by the most iconic of them all, the 1939 movie starring Judy Garland, have actually read the book?

In fact, I wonder how many people realise that ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’, is the first book in a series of 14?

This reprint by Alma Classics has stayed true to the original story, including having Dorothy wear the ‘Silver Slippers’ not the ruby coloured ones (these were changed for the 1939 movie to take advantage of the new technicolour that was used).

After you have read the story, there is a section at the back for young readers including:-

– Information about the author
– About the Book
– About the Characters
– Fantasy Worlds in Children’s Fiction

Plus there is also a ‘Test Yourself’ quiz.

The only thing that lets this book down is the lack of illustrations. As this is a children’s book, I would of loved to have seen more than just a small one at the start of each chapter. A full/half page would have brought the story to life, especially if they depicted the such renown characters.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a beautiful book, that children, and adults will love. You will also get to read the original story, including all the sections that have been changed over the years – well I don’t remember seeing wolves in the movie!!

Lyman Frank Baum was an American author, actor, and independent filmmaker best known as the creator, along with illustrator W. W. Denslow, of one of the most popular books in American children’s literature, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, better known today as simply The Wizard of Oz.

He wrote thirteen sequels, nine other fantasy novels, and a plethora of other works (55 novels in total, 82 short stories, over 200 poems, an unknown number of scripts, and many miscellaneous writings), and made numerous attempts to bring his works to the stage and screen.

He also wrote under numerous pseudonyms including Edith Van Dyne (Aunt Jane’s Nieces and Mary Louise series), Floyd Akers, Capt. Hugh Fitzgerald, John Estes Cooke, Laura Bancroft, Schuyler Staunton, and Suzanne Metcalf.