The Wizard of OZ by L. Frank Baum

Puffin In Bloom series

This is the book that I recently read. Since Wicked 2 is out, I decided to read The Wizard of Oz to know the story after Wicked.

This book is about a girl named Dorothy who lived in Kansas, and because of a cyclone, she is swept away to a land called the Land of OZ. There she accidentally kills the Wicked Witch of the East (Nessarose in the movie) when her house landing on her. She gets the pair of silver shoes from the Wicked Witch of the East. Then she goes to the Emerald City. On the way she meets three other friends. There are the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion. They each want something from Oz: Scarecrow wants a brain, Tin Man wants a heart, and Cowardly Lion wants courage. When they arrive, The Wizard of Oz sends them on a mission to kill the Wicked Witch of the West. After they successfully defeat the Wicked Witch of the West OZ gives what Scarecrow, Lion, and Tin Man wants.Later, the Wizard tried to help Dorothy but couldn’t, so she goes to the Witch of the South (Glinda). Later, she finds out that the shoes that she was wearing can take her back home.

After reading the whole book, I think the story of Wicked and The Wizard of Oz is not really connected. But we can see some similarities between the two different stories. I will tell two similarities and two differences. 1. Dorothy came in a tornado in both book and the movie. 2. Glinda tells Dorothy about the shoes’ power. For differences: 1. There is nothing about Glinda fighting with Elphaba in the book. 2. The person who first sends Dorothy to the Emerald City is Glinda in the movie, but not in the book.

The characters are Dorothy, Glinda, the Wicked Witch of the West, the Wicked Witch of the South, the Witch of the North, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, the Wizard of Oz, the Munchkins, Toto (Dorothy’s dog), and the Guardian of the Gates. Some characters whose roles I didn’t mention are the Winkies and the Guardian of the Gates. First, the Winkies are little people who took the shoes off of the Wicked Witch of the West and gave them to Dorothy. The Guardian of the Gates is a person wearing green who is standing in front of the gate of the Emerald City. He has the key to unlock the spectacles for the Emerald City citizens.

The lesson that I learned from this book is quite long compared to other lessons. It is: “You already have what you are looking for (always).” You just don’t know how to use it yet. That is what you learn on your journey through life. For example, hidden talents. These days, I like to sing so I asked if any of my ancestors are good at singing and my dad said yes. I just practice while relaxing as my little hobbies. And now I am way better at it than before.

Now for basic information: There are 24 chapters, and the book has 219 pages. But I personally enjoyed this book, so to me, it didn’t feel like it was a lot. There are some pictures in the middle, not a lot, though. I read it in 5 hours. I think at least when you are a 6th grader, you should read it. But I read it in 5th grade. Even though there are few pages, there are harder words and small text. The Lexile for this book is 1000.