I read this once a long time ago, and I remember it being pretty good.  It’s a book intended for children, and has a sort of child-logic.  It’s not especially complex or deep, but I do enjoy its subversive nature.  Author L. Frank Baum introduces the book by spelling out how “children today” don’t want darkness, challenges, or moral questions.  They just want light and breezy entertainment, not meant to make them think.  Then he goes on to write a book that has some darkness, challenges, and moral questions.

If you’ve seen the 1939 film adaptation, you pretty much know the story.  As adaptations go, it’s quite close.  There are some bits that get omitted, for sure.  But the major plot beats are present.  Interestingly, the Wicked Witch of the West is a much less important player in the story.  She’s not the book’s great villain, and other than a brief mention early in the book, is only important in one “side-quest.”  The book is more about finding answers and solving problems than fighting villains.

I read this as part of The Oz Chronicles, published by Borders back in 2003, which collects Baum’s fourteen Oz novels in two volumes (there’s a third volume that isn’t about Oz). I probably won’t write reviews for every book, only the ones I especially like.  But I do plan to read them over the coming months.  At the time I’m writing this, I’ve read The Marvelous Land of Oz, from which many ideas and characters that appear in the terrifying film Return to Oz are taken.  That book was fine, but I didn’t especially love it, and don’t plan to write a full review.  I’ve just started Ozma of Oz.  So, we’ll see how I feel about it when it’s done.

All that said, I enjoyed the book and I’d recommend it.  There’s a wry humor that may go over a lot of kids’ heads, but may help them to understand the basics of irony.  After all, you’ve got a character who is very empathic, because he’s so upset about not being empathic that he pretends to be.  You’ve got a character who comes up with good plans and ideas while trying to find his brain.  And you’ve got a character who constantly does the right and brave thing because he’s so upset about being a coward.  Plus, in this book with, supposedly, no moral questions, you’ve got some clear depictions of the corrupt power of flimflam artists and how it should be exposed.

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