Classically Challenged: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Marirosa Mia: In a new segment I’m going to call “Classically Challenged,” I’ve brought along my lovely librarian friend Sylvie Larsen, who each month will talk about a classic children’s book she’s never read—until now. This month it’s THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ, by L. Frank Baum.

But before we get started, I asked Sylvie to write a little bio for herself so you could get to know her a bit. Here’s what she sent me: “Sylvie grew up running wild in the woods of New England, reading books whilst sitting in trees.  Now a New Yorker, she earned her Master's in Library and Information Science and has yet to find the perfect climbing tree in the city.”

And now, Sylvie:

Sylvie Larsen: This post is as good a place as any to admit that I was never all that into THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ as a child. Sure, I watched the movie, but it’s not something that was a big part of my life, as it was for some people.  That being said, you can’t really UNSEE the movie, so it is pretty impossible to read the book without some sort of comparison to the iconic film.  While it’s interesting to see what parts they chose to put in the movie and where the songs would go, it’s far more interesting to discover what didn’t make it into the film.  I found the book to be a better story than the movie.     

First, let me put this book into some historical perspective.  To say that this was a time of great change in America is an understatement.  Phones, cars, moving pictures and early aviation were all becoming parts of regular life.  Every day, more and more immigrants were coming to America.  So, the idea that a little girl was suddenly picked up and dropped into a new land is not too far from what some new Americans were experiencing.  It was an exciting time to be a child, and I think this book captures that well.

The story is as fast paced as you’d expect a bedtime story to be. Dorothy leads a dull life before she is whisked away by a tornado to the magical land of Oz.  She picks up a few travel companions on her way to ask the wise Wizard to help her get back to Kansas.  Quite a lot happens to our heroes on their travels and some of it is pretty dark.  I recently read the following synopsis of the movie: “Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets and then teams up with three strangers to kill again.” Sure, Dorothy arrives safely in Oz, but she inadvertently murders someone upon landing.  Even though everyone tells her she’s done a great thing, Dorothy is obviously upset about the whole thing...well, as upset as one can be and still steal the corpse’s shoes from her feet (which are silver and not ruby, interestingly enough).  

In general, I wanted to know a little more about what was going on in the characters’ heads.  There is no backstory or character development, just a girl and a dog right from the get-go.  It is really just like her trip down the road of yellow bricks, a succession of things that happen.  Even when things get pretty scary for Dorothy on her travels through Oz, she keeps an impressively level head throughout...or her emotions are not really covered in the story. The moral of the story, if there really is one, comes from the purpose of the mission.  The characters are on their way to visit the Wizard to get what they believe they need to be better, but while they are being placed in these impossible situations along the way, the Cowardly Lion acts pretty darn brave, the Scarecrow comes up with some pretty cunning plans for someone who doesn’t have a brain, and the Tin Man is a total sweetie for someone who doesn’t have a heart.  I guess they had what they needed all along, they just needed Dorothy to come along and give them the chance to prove themselves.

I wish I could have read this before seeing the movie.  Fortunately, there are 13 more books in the series that haven’t been turned into movies, so I can discover more of Oz without always having to imagine Judy Garland.