The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

I have read and watched the Wizard of Oz a bunch of times. A classic for sure. However, I have not read it quite like Mr. Baum wrote it. What I mean is in this book, the shoes that Dorothy gains from eliminating the Wicked Witch of the East are “silver”. Yes, you heard me the original shoes were silver and not “ruby”.

So, I checked it out to see why the change and the reason is:

In the original 1900 book edition of 'The Wizard of Oz', the slippers of the Wicked Witch of the East were silver in color. But in the beloved 1939 film version, they were ruby red. According to those involved in the making of the film, a silver color washed out in comparison to the beautiful, riotously rich colors of the dream sequences in the enchanted, magical land of Oz. In the search for a more photogenic alternative. ruby red came out the winner.

What I liked about reading the original story as the author wrote it is that he really went into detail about the characters and the land and story. Like who the Tin Man really was prior to becoming the Tin Man. He was a man who had fallen in love. A witch put a curse on his axe and every time that he would go out to chop wood, he chopped off a limp until he was nothing more then a Tin Man.

The illustrations that Mr. Sieben did were great. They were quirky but colorful and really portrayed the characters and the story nicely. So whether you are a fan or just want to read this book again, you need to pick up 2 copies. One to keep as a treasure on your bookshelf and another to read.