Although most children today are introduced to the world of Oz through the classic 1939 movie, L. Frank Baum has been captivating the hearts of the young, and not so young, for over a hundred years. This delightful compilation includes all fifteen books written by L. Frank Baum: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Marvelous Land of Oz, Ozma of Oz, Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, The Road to Oz, The Emerald City of Oz, The Patchwork Girl Of Oz, Little Wizard Stories of Oz, Tik-Tok of Oz, The Scarecrow Of Oz, Rinkitink In Oz, The Lost Princess Of Oz, The Tin Woodman Of Oz, The Magic of Oz, and Glinda Of Oz. Perhaps there is no better, or fitting, introduction one could give to this compilation than the author's note that Baum himself writes in his very first book, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." Here he reveals the true intention of his work. Folklore, legends, myths and fairy tales have followed childhood through the ages, for every healthy youngster has a wholesome and instinctive love for stories fantastic, marvelous and manifestly unreal. The winged fairies of Grimm and Andersen have brought more happiness to childish hearts than all other human creations. Yet the old time fairy tale, having served for generations, may now be classed as "historical" in the children's library; for the time has come for a series of newer "wonder tales" in which the stereotyped genie, dwarf and fairy are eliminated, together with all the horrible and blood-curdling incidents devised by their authors to point a fearsome moral to each tale. Modern education includes morality; therefore the modern child seeks only entertainment in its wonder tales and gladly dispenses with all disagreeable incident. Having this thought in mind, the story of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" was written solely to please children of today. It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heartaches and nightmares are left out.
Book Description
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Stories Great, Edition Not,
By
This review is from: Wizard of Oz, Marvelous Land, Ozma, Dorothy, Road, Emerald City, Patchwork Girl, Tik-Tok, Scarecrow, Rinkitink, Lost Princess, Tin Woodman, Magic, Glinda, Little Wizard Stories (Paperback)
I honestly cannot understand giving any Oz story a rating of one because of the content. These stories are classic. I AM giving this edition a one, though, because this is probably the poorest excuse for a book that I have ever seen.
My first and biggest issue with this edition is the fact that the editor/publisher chose not to have paragraph breaks. Each chapter is a paragraph. It's terrible. Next, as these pages are large (almost as big as a typical textbook), you would expect columns to be used. Not the case. It's just one long line after one long line on the pages. The publisher did not even choose to put the next chapter on a fresh page, merely spacing once and beginning anew. It's extremely frustrating. The next thing that finally make me close the book was the abundance of errors in the text. I honestly do not think this is L. Frank Baum's fault. I feel these errors are there because the editor and publishers were so intent on putting this on the market that they overlooked important things. Mostly, I am referring to technical and mechanical errors, but a few sentences don't even make sense. And, the thing I just REALLY couldn't get over was the fact that all of the chapter titles are in capital letters, and then randomly there was a title with lowercase letters! Such inattention to a book is unacceptable to me. I AM returning this book and getting a nicer edition! By the way, I did try to contact the publishing company about this, but its Web site is not properly functioning.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A very dated children's fantasy,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Wizard of Oz, Marvelous Land, Ozma, Dorothy, Road, Emerald City, Patchwork Girl, Tik-Tok, Scarecrow, Rinkitink, Lost Princess, Tin Woodman, Magic, Glinda, Little Wizard Stories (Paperback)
Nowadays, with the popularity of Harry Potter, there has been something of a re-examination of children's literature, in particular, the idea that it can't also be enjoyable for adults to read. Even older works, such as The Chronicles of Narnia have been reappreciated. It was along these lines that I decided to read L. Frank Baum's Oz books, figuring that, if nothing else, they would be a quick read. In addition, I felt I would get a better understanding of Gregory Maguire's Oz books (Wicked and Son of a Witch), which are much more based on Baum than any movie. After reading all fifteen "books" that comprise The Complete Oz, I have to say, I'm a little disappointed.
Like most people, my exposure to Baum's works was limited to the fantastic adaptation of his first Oz book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, featuring Judy Garland. The cinematic adaptation only loosely follows the story, and there are many things that do not appear in the movie. Most importantly, while the movie pretty much explains the whole adventure as a dream, the book makes the land of Oz quite real; subsequent stories has Dorothy shifting back-and-forth from Kansas to Oz until several books in when she moves there permanently with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry (and Toto). Although the characters change from story to story, the main characters are Dorothy and Ozma, the ruler of Oz. There are a number of other recurring characters, including the familiar Scarecrow, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, Wizard and Glinda the Good Witch, along with others like Tik Tok, Jack Pumpkinhead and the Shaggy Man. Each story typically has the characters exploring a new and strange land where they must solve some problem. Occasionally, the Emerald City of Oz is threatened by invaders, who are typically repulsed with great ease. Only the Nome King appears as an enemy in several books. The problem with the Oz books is that, as imaginative as they are, they are not all that well-written. I realize I am applying an adult reader's scrutiny to stories designed for pre-teens, but I think only the youngest of readers would not see through Baum's plot holes and last-minute rescues. A standard Oz story would have certain characters in dire straits only to be rescued by Glinda or Ozma, who happen to be watching everything through a magic mirror. Everything is perfect in Oz...too perfect to create anything but the weakest form of danger. And I think even most young readers nowadays would find Baum's sugary language too cloying to be palatable. I suppose one hundred years ago, this may have fit with contemporary tastes, but there is just a lot out there that's better nowadays. The Complete Oz is over 700 pages, but each page contains at least twice as much text as the page in a normal book. What the volume contains are only the fifteen stories: no illustrations or background material accompanies the text, which means that this massive volume is unlikely to even appeal to the only readers who might be able to enjoy it. Under some circumstances, I might even give this book two stars; I know, however, that I am not truly the target audience, so I am giving it an extra star to make up for that. Nonetheless, even if you feel that these might be good stories for children you know (and it is certainly G-rated stuff), you are better off buying these stories in a more kid-friendly format.
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a book!,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Wizard of Oz, Marvelous Land, Ozma, Dorothy, Road, Emerald City, Patchwork Girl, Tik-Tok, Scarecrow, Rinkitink, Lost Princess, Tin Woodman, Magic, Glinda, Little Wizard Stories (Paperback)
For those who love the Wizard of Oz there's nothing quite like having the complete set of related stories. My kids and I are reading and re-reading, carry the book with us on vacations and keep it on the bedside table at home. Wonderful gift for children (and adults) of all ages!
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
