The Road to Oz (Dover Children's Classics) [Paperback]

L. Frank Baum (Author), John R. Neill (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up | Series: Dover Children's Classics

Join Dorothy and Toto on another thrilling adventure and meet a host of new friends, including the Shaggy Man, little Button-Bright, and the Rainbow's beautiful daughter, Polychrome. A delight for children of all ages, this handsome reproduction of the original 1909 edition features 126 illustrations by John R. Neill.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-4-By L. Frank Baum. Narrated by Flo Gibson.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

From the Publisher

This book is in Electronic Paperback Format. If you view this book on any of the computer systems below, it will look like a book. Simple to run, no program to install. Just put the CD in your CDROM drive and start reading. The simple easy to use interface is child tested at pre-school levels.

Windows 3.11, Windows/95, Windows/98, OS/2 and MacIntosh and Linux with Windows Emulation.

Includes Quiet Vision's Dynamic Index. the abilty to build a index for any set of characters or words.

This Electronic Paperback is illustrated.

This Electronic Paperback is read aloud by an actor. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (December 1, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486252086
• ISBN-13: 978-0486252087
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #325,103 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The fifth Oz book... by no means the best, October 10, 2002

By 

Blake Petit "Novelist, columnist & reviewer" (Ama, Louisiana United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Road to Oz (Wonderful Oz Books) (Mass Market Paperback)

"The Road to Oz" is the fifth book in what is perhaps the greatest fantasy series of all time.. however, it's not really a book I'd recommend to show people how wonderful the series really is. At this point it seems that Baum was getting a little weary, and it shows, as this book has almost no discernable plot or conflict at all. Dorothy, again, gets lost in a fairyland, and again makes her way to the Emerald City, assembling a small band of strange and endearing characters along the way -- the same as she'd done three times before. What made this a weak entry is that there was no sense of urgency here. Dorothy was never worried, she knew as soon as she found Ozma she'd have a way home, there was no villain... by the time she made it to the Emerald City the book had been liberally dotted with references to how everyone in Oz loved one another and nobody was ever mean -- unless, of course, you're a wicked witch, but they had both long been vanquished at this point.

The land of Oz is built on strange situations and characters, but also on story. In the original "Wizard of Oz," Dorothy and her friends faced the witch, hoping to send her home. In "The Land of Oz," Pip had to deal with an entire invasion of the Emerald City. In "Ozma of Oz" there was the wonderful story of the rescue of the Royal Family of Ev.

By book four, "Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz," Baum seemed to have run out of plots and contented himself, in these few volumes, with just bringing in new characters and not bothering to craft a story around them. In book six, "The Emerald City of Oz," he took the step of placing Dorothy in Oz permanently, which was probably the best thing he'd ever done, because later volumes no longer needed to concern themselves with finding ways to get to Oz and just told really wonderful fantasy stories. ("Tik-Tok of Oz" is still my favorite in the series.")

The Oz books, in toto (no pun intended), are wonderful for people of any age, but this installment is really for completists only.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Weakest of the series, but still enjoyable, December 28, 2002

By 

David Michael Cohen (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Road to Oz (Wonderful Oz Books) (Mass Market Paperback)

Everyone has their favorite Oz novel, but of the 14 which Baum wrote, this one is, in my opinion, the weakest. Unlike other Oz books there is little in the way of plot. This makes reading it uncomfortable as the reader spends most of the book waiting for somehting to happen, only to realize at the end that nothing happened. Also, I loved the tense yet humorus situations Baum masterfully set up in the other books. I rorared with laughter in the second book when Jelia Jamb "translated" for the scarecrow and Jack Pumpkinhead. The trial from book four and Dorothy's capture by the people of Utensia in book six also made me laugh while also clutching the book with fascination. There are no comperable scenes in "Road to Oz" and this is sorely missed.

However, the book is still worth reading. For one thing it introduces the Shaggy Man, who proves to be a most enjoyable character. The Shaggy Man carries a device called the love magnet, which causes people who see it to love him. This subplot introduces a very mature and though-provoking conflict. Is it right to enchant people into loving? Is this a power that one person, even a well-intentioned one, can hold alone? What are the drawbacks of being loved by everyone? This subplot held my interest and made the story readable.

Finally, there are cameo appearances in the end from many of Baum's non-Oz books. Clearly these appearances are a plug for his other works. One cannot fault him too much for doing this though. Baum wrote many fine books which had nothing to do with Oz, and this needs to be remembered.

Despite this book's weakness, it did not signal the decline of the series. Most of the later books were quite good, and I found "The Tin Woodsman of Oz" (number 12) to be one of the best. Keep reading, as altogether there is nothing like the Oz series.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a grand evocation of a child's birthday party, January 29, 2006

By 

marcabru - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Road to Oz (Hardcover)

As noted by some other reviewers Road to Oz doesn't conform to the usual requirements of a fairy tale such as a quest or continual action adventure. However, I believe Baum was aiming at something different here, namely, evoking the wonder, anticipation and shared excitement that young children feel at a birthday party (the point of the book is the celebration of Ozma's birthday). The first edition of the book was even printed with paper of different colors like the colored paper used for decorations. In these terms, Road to Oz is perhaps one of the best written of the Oz series with very few false notes or awkward characters. The characters of Button Bright, Polychrome, the Shaggy Man and Johnny DoIt are particularly good. Actually there is a quite a bit of action and adventure before Dorothy and her companions arrive in Oz. The transformations of Button-Bright and the Shaggy Man into fox and donkey respectively, while straight out of Classical myth, have an unusual twist: their motivation stems not from malice or the Gods' sport, but rather from the transformer's inability of seeing more than one standard of beauty. Once in Oz, Baum handles the pageantry and socializing in deft fashion for a children's story. In short, an essential part of the Oz series.