The Wizard of Oz

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Summary: I like the Wizard of Oz.
Review: I think that the book, "The Wizard of Oz", is one of the greatest books ever written. I found that the book and the movie that we've all seen are very different. The book tells of many more events that were never added into the movie, possibly due to the violence that occurs in the book. One of the violent acts was when the tin man chopped off the mountain lions head. You don't usually see that kind of violence in Shirley. Another event happened when forty or so wolves were killed. I think that if the movie were to be made exactly how the book was wrote that it would be an interesting movie. The Wizard of Oz was a very exciting book to read because I've seen the movie a million times growing up and it kept me in suspense the whole time. The book was always telling about things that I did'nt expect to happen. I would recommend this book to anyone of any age to read because I think that it's a worthwhile book.

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Summary: IT'S GREAT!!!!!!!!
Review: DOROTHY AND HER DOG TOTO GET CAUGHT IN A CYCLONE AND IT CARRIES THEM TO OZ!OZ IS A PLACE WHERE ANYTING CAN HAPPEN,ALMOST EVERYTHING DOES.I'M SURE WHOEVER READS THIS BOOK WILL ENJOY IT LIKE I DID.

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Summary: The best childrens book for adults!
Review: This book is very good we had to read it for a project in U.S.History and it was one of the few books that I nor my classmates minded reading. with the pitcures it made reading this book even more exciting.I would reccomend this book to anyone.

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Summary: The Silver Shoes, lost amongst the desert
Review: I believe one of the reviews earlier said it best when its writer explained the true context of the entire novel. The novel was not really meant to be a fairy tale for young children, instead it was a Populist book on the issue of bimetalism and argrarian discontent with Industrial Tycoons and Robber Barons. The movie really did a horrible job with this book, changing the "silver slippers" into ruby slippers to show off the impressive Technicolor. The book however is a classic, for its subtle references to politcal issues and the immagination of the mind. The oddity of the book; however, lies in the fact that Baum portrays the Farmer (the scarecrow), the eastern laborers (the tin man) and Bryan (the Lion) as characters who really had what they needed all along, slashing the idea that agrarians really had something to complain about.

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Summary: great illustrations
Review: I bought it for the illustrations. Anyone who appreciates art will love Zwerger's work. Without a doubt, she's one of the best if not the best illustrator out there.

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Summary: A fantasy which still transports me to a place I want to be.
Review: Ahhhhh. Freedom, and escape from the monotony of the high plains to the wonderful land of Oz. Safely surrounded by the deadly desert, and overseen by Glinda the Good. This is not an insipid story for seven year olds, not an interaction of a child with adultoids, nor is it the call of the populist party for free silver. It is the gate to another place, the first ticket to a land that I have spent many hours gladly wandering in. To read the wizard without going on to Glinda, and tik tok, and the wogglebug, is to deprive yourself, and your children of a path, not unlike the path through the wardrobe into Narnia. Baum didn't set out to write "Alice". He wrote an American fairy tale. And Ruth Plumley Thompson continued it, leaving us with a rich set of figures which reach out of our own national heritage and which have, as all great liturature does, reached back and thus formed us. Escape liturature of the highest caliber.

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Summary: This is not what it seems to be...
Review: It's a small, paperback book in a kit with objects related to the story

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Summary: I THINK IT IS A VERY INTERESTING BOOK.
Review: I LIKE THIS BOOK VERY MUCH. I ESPECIALLY LIKE THE PART IN WHICH DOROTHY MEETS THE WICKED WITCH OF THE EAST.I ALSO LIKE THE 'TIN-MAN' AND THE 'WINKIES'.

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Summary: The classic first book in a series every library should have
Review: Baum's 14-book Oz series is classic American fiction. The tales can enchant and allure audiences of all ages, and his storytelling is lighthearted and thoroughly enjoyable. I grew up with the Oz books, and even now, at over 20 years old, despite the considerably more complex novels I now read, I can still pick up any one of the Oz books and find myself swept away with Dorothy and her companions. A world of magic, witches, beauty, and aspirations that the child in all of us can strive to achieve. Five stars!!

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Summary: A Classic Satire on the Populist Party
Review: Most people look at L. Frank Baum's classic novel as a simple children's story, but it has a deeper significance. Baum lived in the Great Plains of the American West during the Populist uprising of the 1890s, and the characters and events of the Wizard of Oz are based upon what he observed. For example, Dorothy represents the innocent midwesterner who must contend with the wild nature of the West (the Wicked Witch of the West) and the deceptive idea that all solutions can be found with money (following the path of gold, or the Yellow Brick Road). The Scarecrow represents American farmers, the Tin Woodsman represents American workers (his transformation from human to tin man represents industrial accidents), and the Cowardly Lion represents Populist presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan (a great orator but a pacifist, hence the cowardly lion). Following the path of gold leads Dorothy and her companions to the Emerald City, which represents Washington, DC, and the corrupt influence that money has on the city. The Wizard is the President of the U.S.--a weak and powerless humbug who nevertheless manages to convince the inocent Dorothy that it is he and not the moneyed special interests that control the land. Anyway, there is much more, but in the end Dorothy conquers nature (the Witch of the West), and with the help of the Silver Slippers (the Populist Party's Free Silver issue), finally finds her way home to truth and happiness. A wonderful book when read in the proper context.