Road to Oz: Twists, Turns, Bumps, and Triumphs in the Life of L. Frank Baum

Road to Oz: Twists, Turns, Bumps, and Triumphs in the Life of L. Frank Baum
by
Kathleen Krull and Kevin Hawkes
biography for children grades 2 - 5

L. Frank Baum was a dreamer and failed at quite a number of ventures before becoming one of the bestselling authors in American history with his series of Oz books.

I suppose this is an okay book for students writing reports, but I found nothing distinguishing about the writing. The illustrator, on the other hand, Kevin Hawkes did a great job with his illustrations. Some are single color (green ink) and others are full color. He must have studied the works of W. W. Denslow, the first Oz artist, but he does not reproduce Denslow's style exactly. I will read more Kevin Hawkes' children's books based on his treatment of this one.

I appreciate the list of Baum Oz Books in the back and the works cited.

If the reader is into Oz at all, I recommend watching "The Dreamer of Oz", a made for television movie with John Ritter as Baum.

I wonder why the author and publisher decided to name this book "The Road to Oz". There is a different book written by L. Frank Baum named "The Road to Oz" so these will forever be confusing to patrons looking in library catalogs by title.

The Wizard of Oz and Philosophy

The Wizard of Oz and Philosophy: Wicked Wisdom of the West: Popular Culture and Philosophy
by Randall E. Auxier and Phillip S. Seng
adult nonfiction.

Being a Wonderful Wizard of Oz fan I thought I would enjoy this book. The problem is that this book is a series of serious essays about philosophy as seen in the MGM movie "The Wizard of Oz".
I now realize that I know NOTHING about philosophy. In college I took psychology and world religions and those met my liberal arts requirements so I didn't take a philosophy class. Right away the authors start discussing Plato and Socrates and Langer and Kant. I had no idea what they were talking about.
This is probably a perfectly fine book for a philosophy major or someone who has read a medium to large amount of information about philosophy. That wasn't me. I gave up on the book after browsing a number of essays. The essay about "The Wiz" looked pretty good, but I would have to watch the movie again to remind myself what happened in that film.

Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Classic Comics Retelling)

Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Classic Comics Retelling)
by L. Frank Baum, Eric Shanower and Skottie Young
children's fantasy fiction, ages 6-10

I have read the original Wonderful Wizard of Oz many, many times, as well as at least 40 other Oz books and comics, saw the Broadway musical, Wicked, viewed the MGM movie and other movies about Oz, and watched the television show, so I am VERY familiar with this story.
In this case, Eric Shanower has condensed the plot to make this an accessible read for voracious readers and reluctant readers alike. Skottie Young's illustrations are NOTHING like the previous illustrations I have seen in Oz books, although there have been so many different comic book takes on Oz (some of which are not at all true to Baum's original intentions) that I can not say if other comic book illustrators have given Dorothy and friends a similar treatment.
The results are the old shown and told in a fresh way. Fans of Baum (and Shanower has his fans as well) are in for a treat with this book and the bonus feature - a sketchbook in the back of the book showing different ideas that the illustrator toyed with in developing the book. Graphic arts students would enjoy that part. I recommend this book for public and school libraries across America (and other countries as well). I am not sure if I would put it in the juvenile, or YA sections of the library, though. It can be enjoyed by many ages of audience. My library has it under "Y, graphic novels".

New Ohio Read poster

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray and I share a favorite book - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.

I don't remember if I voted for Cordray or not, but I vote for L. Frank Baum!
To see more Ohio politicians reading books point your browser to:
http://www.library.ohio.gov/Marketing/MediaCenter/READposter

My Favorite Fantasy Books

My all time favorite books tend to be Quests. The kind where a group works together to accomplish a goal or vanquish evil. The best example of this is the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I would have to say that the Wheel of Time series comes in second.

Wonderful Wizard of Oz series by Lyman Frank Baum
Eye of the Dragon (Wheel of Time series) by Robert Jordan
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Golden Compass (His Dark Materials series) by Phillip Pullman
High House by James Stoddard (the sequel is not so great)
Half Magic by Edward Eager
Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
Singing Sword by Jack Whyte
Wicked by Gregory Maguire