Author: L. Frank Baum
Illustrator: Michael Sieben
© Date: 2013 (story originally published in 1900)
Publisher: Harper Design
Pages: 222
Chapters: Yes
Illustrations: Original no, this version yes, most page layouts have an illustration
Publisher Recommended Age: 7-11 years
Bonus Activities at End of Book: No
Summary from Book: In this dazzling full-color gift edition, L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is brought to life with specially commissioned illustrations by contemporary artist and designer Michael Sieben.
Follow the yellow brick road with Dorothy and her friends as they travel to the Emerald City in search of the great Wizard of Oz in this new, complete and unabridged edition of the classic tale that winds its way from Kansas to faraway places and back. From the land of the Munchkins to the deadly poppy field, from encounters with ferocious Kalidahs, Winged Monkeys, and Fighting Trees to battles with the Wicked Witches of the East and West, the magic of Baum’s story is beautifully reimagined through the extraordinary art of Michael Sieben.
Note: This review is done from memory. I originally read this awhile ago.
Page Pig Thoughts: I find myself in an unexpected place. When I picked this one up to read, I thought that I would like it. But I found it kinda weird and was happy to finish and move on to another book.
The library had one style available, so I chose to make the most of it and read anyway. The illustrations were not a style that I enjoyed, so I was trying to read the words and not look at the pictures. Which made my experience a bit off to begin with. But I also found the story itself to be a bit weird. Maybe the story style is a bit dated for my liking. Maybe my whole experience was just off. But I now have this advice, find a version with no illustrations or ones to your liking, trying to ignore pictures does not improve the reading experience.
The introduction written by L. Frank Baum in 1900 says that this story “aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heartaches and nightmares are left out.” This one does have deeper messages and leaves out the rather gruesome incidents of original fairy tale styles. But it does retain odd things happening amidst the morals. For example, the scarecrow has pins and needles sticking out of his head at the end of the book. Why? To show everyone that he is sharp now that he received his brains. Mildly funny and witty, but still odd at face value.
Ultimately, if this is a book for reading before or after the movie, be aware that the style is different from the movie and may not be appropriate for the same crowd.
Page Pup gives the same rating for this one. Page Pup enjoyed the movie, but found the book kinda weird.
Since I haven’t watched the movie in many years, I am now curious how I will feel about the movie. So…I’m off to see the movie, the most wonderful movie of Oz…
Use caution with younger or sensitive readers, injuries are had (see Item of Interest #1 below).
Family Unit: Dorothy lives with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, and yes, Toto the dog.
Items of Interest:
- The tin woodman was once a man of flesh and bones. He fell in love with a Munchkin, but the old lady that the Munchkin lived with was lazy and didn’t want to lose the person doing the housework. So the old lady made a deal with the wicked witch to prevent the tin Woodman from marrying the Munchkin. The wicked witch bewitches that axe, so the woodman cuts off his leg. He has it replaced with a tin leg. Then she is angry and keeps bewitching the axe, the Woodman cuts off his other leg, his arms, and his head. But each time, they are replaced with tin. Then the Woodman cuts open his torso, so he gets a tin one and loses his heart. Without a heart, he loses interest in the Munchkin.
- When the scarecrow gets brains from the wizard of Oz, a mixture of bran and pins and needles is used. He then has a bran new brain with a reminder for how sharp he is.
- Dorothy and company travel through the land of china people. The china people do not want to be chased or do much of anything at risk of being cracked and needing to be glued back together again. Once you are cracked, you are not as beautiful as you once were.
- Backstories for characters are present in the book and they help highlight the skills that were already within the main characters. The backstories helped explain other characters as well. For example, the winged monkeys are cursed to fulfill 3 wishes by the keeper of a magical hat because a monkey king was a bit too mischievous.
Other Books in Series (At Time of Posting):
- Looks like there are about 15 books in this series. Yes, I was surprised that it is a series.