The Wizard of Oz

Rating:
Summary: A good book
Review: This book is a wonderful childrens' classic, though for adults it might seem a little bit too fanciful. The same characters from the movie are in it (Dorothy, Glinda, the Wizard of Oz) but don't be surprised if you notice a lot of details in the book that aren't in the movie- they're both completely different. The book is complicated , and contains a lot of elements that are magical in nature, not to mention all the different races (there's even one made out of china!). I don't think I'd recommend it to a smaller child, but eight, nine, ten year olds would LOVE it.

Rating:
Summary: Something of a disappointment.
Review: This is certainly a tolerable children's book, better than many. But for someone familiar with and fond of the movie (and aren't we all?) this is quite a disappointment. Generally, I find the book version to be superior to the movie, so, given how much I love the movie version of this story, it was with great anticipation that I finally got around to reading it. Unfortunately, this is one of those rare occasions in which the movie is vastly superior to the book. The book is written in a style not too different from the fairie tales of Hans Christian Anderson (definitely more his than the Brothers Grimm); that is to say, it's very striaghtforward, with little or nothing in the way of style to embellish the basic story. The dialogue is bland, the plot without nuance or embellishment, the characters only a little better than wooden and one-dimensional. Which is okay for a book that is intended purely as a children's story, but given the humor, nuance, and characterization found in the movie which was based on this story, I'd expected more; I'd expected it to be one of those "children's stories" that was still entertaining to an adult. It wasn't.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book
Review: This story all started when a farm girl from Kansas named Dorothy Gale, and her little dog Toto got sucked into a tornado and landed in a fairyland named Oz. In Oz she meets a bunch of strange characters, a scarecrow, tin woodsman, and a cowardly lion. Together they go on a mission to see the wizard of oz by following the yellow brick road. Each one wanting a different wish. On the way to the wizard they come across multiple things. And when they finally got to Emerald city the wizard told them that they must first kill the wicked witch of the west if they want him to make there wishes come true. Eventually they succeed in doing that along with multiple hard things to do. After all that they find out that the wizard is a "humbug" and he grants everyone's wishes. Except for Dorothy's wich is for her to return back home. So now Dorothy and her friends go on another adventure to find the Good Witch of the South. Well they found her and Dorothy got back home along with her dog Toto, and she had what she needed all along in order for her to return home. Personally in my opinion I enjoyed the book better then the movie. I would recommend this book to anyone with a good imagination, because I kept imagining the story as I read it. The book has some drawings in it wich makes imagining things a lot easier, it has drawings of the main characters, villains, and some of the scenes in the book such as there journey on the yellow brick road. I would also recommend this book to anyone if the ages of 10 and up.