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Wordful Wednesday Afternoon: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Ethan's bedtime routine has always involved me reading stories to him, to the point that when he acts up, it's actually a good punishment to say, "No stories tonight."

It's something I've always really enjoyed, and it's been particularly great since we've moved from picture books into chapter books into juvenile literature. Because I get to count anything that vaguely resembles a novel on my yearly reading list.  (Generally it needs to have upwards of twenty chapters or I don't count it.)

We've done the Narnia Chronicles a few times, and The Hardy Boys have a good hold on my boy, but this time it was L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Of course, I'm familiar with the film, having seen it perhaps dozens of times.  (And I remember being able to count on my dad to comment, "They just couldn't improve that, even if they wanted to.")

The book differs in sequence and substance in several major ways.  The themes, I suppose, are mostly the same, although the book seems to hit the main "you already have the thing you think you need" theme harder than the film.

Because, of course, the Scarecrow thinks he needs brains, although he's always handy with a bright idea.  And the Tin Woodman (shortened to Tinman in the film) believes he needs a heart, though he cries at the drop of a hat and empathizes with all creatures except ones who menace his friends.  And the Cowardly Lion is perhaps the most noble and self-sacrificing character you'd ever meet.  Only Dorothy is ever truly in need of intervention from the Wizard, and even then, she had the capability all along and only needed the knowledge of how to use it (and the knowledge doesn't come from the Wizard).

Glinda the Good Witch in the film is a combination of the two Good Witches in the book, with Glinda only appearing in the narrative after Oz flies away in his balloon.  The Flying Monkeys, perhaps the most menacing characters in the film, turn out to be under a spell and subject to command by anyone who owns a certain charmed item.  And they end up aiding our travelers on more than one occasion.

The book is certainly more violent than the film, having one confrontation with the travelers result in forty beheaded wolves (courtesy the Woodman) and forty crows with broken necks (thanks to our Scarecrow friend).  I'm actually not in the least opposed to such depictions as long as they're not too gory (and they're not).  Sometimes in a story, the Good Guy has to do some whuppin'.

One of my favorite differences was the fact that Oz wasn't a dream.  I always found that ending to be a bit of a cop-out.  Dorothy still travels home using her magic slippers, which are Silver rather than Ruby.  But as far as the story goes, it presents Oz as a real place.  So we can only hope the Wizard made it back to Omaha in his balloon.

The edition we read was the 100th Anniversary Edition with full illustrations from W.W. Denslow, and the illustrations were both the strength and an annoyance of the book.  Though the illustrations were lovely, they sometimes covered most of a page even though the page was also covered with print.  It sometimes made the actual reading quite difficult.  Also, some of the full-page plates were somewhat randomly inserted.  For instance, the first full-page plate was of Dorothy and Toto being swept away in the little house by the cyclone.  But it was a full three pages before that event took place in the narrative.

Ethan and I thoroughly enjoyed the story, and now we'll have to get the film and see how he likes it.  I did find myself humming the songs occasionally while reading, and that's probably the major thing the film brings to the table.