Darswords

The Complete Wizard of Oz Collection: All 22 Stories by L. Frank Baum
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Whew! That took a month to get through. And though I might have said it was repetitive and boring at first. I gradually felt pulled into the many implications of history and how foward thinking this author was for his time.

I listened on Audible . Eric Vincent (Narrator) did a fantastic job with his many voices of the population of Oz. At first, I was a little put off with his female voices but soon saw that even within the group of young women he had to bring to life somehow.

I wish I could have found the illustrations that were in the paper books I read to my children so long ago. That was the only thing missing.

Interesting things found in these books written in the early 1900s:

The first transgender person I can remember being presented. (Tip/Ozma)

Women at war to reseat the throne, ejecting the wizard.

Clever ways to help people talk through problems and find peaceful solutions.

When I read a few of these to my kids I felt the language rather boring, but we all loved them anyway. Now hearing someone else read the books, I fell into the rhythm and enjoyed all the adventures. I’m rather missing it. Oh, yeah! I’m reading Wicked soon. Now I will have a deeper understanding of the world that story is based in. I don’t know about Wicked yet. But I know the main lessons of Oz were kindness and helping others. Not a bad set of mottos and goals to aim for.

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