The Marvelous Land of Oz (Illustrated First Edition): 100th Anniversary OZ Collection

We read the last chapter on our homemade Gump! Great plot and great quality, bye it.

I am of the generation that grew up with the annual television re-play of the Judy Garland movie; The Wizard of Oz. However, the only one of the many books in the series I can remember owning was Frank Baum’s The Marvelous Land of Oz. I was too young to read it and cannot remember if it was read to me, but I have certain memories of the illustrations by- well my copy may not have had John ER Neill’s illustrations as I am almost positive that I remember these pictures as different. The edition I have now is a almost reprint of the original. The artwork is as it was in terms of the drawings, but there are no color plates. This certainly saves money but it is not the same.The Wondrous Land of Oz is easy to recommend as a family read. If you want to be offended about certain things said or hinted at about women, they can be found, but this is as it was intended a children’s story. If an all-female army armed with knitting needles and all hungry for gems offends you, the men made to do to house work feel very put upon and we are not to admire the army of the revolution. More than this is too much of a spoiler.This the second book of the Land of Oz has us visiting entirely with the locals. No storm tossed lost girl of Kansas nor her little dog Toto. Instead we have Tip. Tip is an orphan left in the hands of a witch. He is in the land of the Gillikins, who are in the territory of the Good Witch Glenda. Good she may be but the witch Mombi , puts the loco in the term in loco parentis. She is as some might say a piece of work. Mostly she over works Tip. While he finds typical boyish ways in which to cope (ok pun intended). There comes a last straw and he is under threat of being turned to stone.Deciding that escape is better than a life as a statue, he steals some magic powder, brings to life Jack, a pumpkin-headed man of wood and makes his escape. The obvious plan being to plead for the help of the new king of OZ, The Scarecrow.This is a children’s book so the adventures are many and rarely that dangerous. They mostly keep with in the bounds of those that made the first book such a hit that the fans convinced Mr. Baum to write this one. There is a lot less killing, something I appreciated. As promised in the subtitle of this book much of what happens under the leadership of the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodsman. Tip is much less of a leader than Dorothy was and along the way they add to the magically animated Jack, a saw house as one of their talking beasts of burden.In fact one of the draws of The Marvelous Land is the introduction of several new characters such as Mr. HM (Highly Magnified) Woggle Bug T.E. (thoroughly Educated) and later a magic flying Gump. To a much greater degree than in Book one Baum allows himself jokes, puns and appeals to humor childish and slightly older. It has been suggested that Book 1 was a thinly disguised political book about the silver standard, a major political issue of the day. It would not surprise me if he was here pocking abound in any number of turn-of-that century’s political topics but my recommendation is to read it without reference to issues of our day or his (Publishing date 1904).I bought The Marvelous Land of Oz in part to revisit very old memories and in part to sample more of Mr. Baum’s created land. I think it retains an ability to compete with the attention of children not entirely overloaded with electronic images. But I find the tone some what flat and dusty. If you are reading for your youngsters, you are going to need to ham it up or risk losing them. Not having anyone to read and act it for me, there were times I wished the story could get into a higher gear. Oz books are a lot lighter and less didactic than the C.S Lewis Chronicles of Narnia and certainly less flighty than Ian Fleming’s (Yupe that Ian Fleming) Chitty Chittty Bang Bang. The series may make it as a family tradition, but I suspect it may not resonate with a more twenty-first century pre reader

We are reading all of the Oz book as a family and the kids are really enjoying it.

Nice clean smooth, no tears

Love the book

This edition is absolutely filled with grammar and punctuation errors! I don't nitpick at a few mistakes, I understand that that happens and things slip through. But it gets to a point where every paragraph and every line of dialogue is done incorrectly and it's a complete pain trying to read.

The plot involves a revolution/insurrection of the Emerald City. Women, led by Jinjur, conquer the city for the sole purpose of robbing it of all its emeralds. And then they sit around eating candy while they make the men do their work for them. Meanwhile, the Scarecrow wants his city back. With the help of the Tin Woodman they almost accomplish that… But. Glinda has other plans for the Emerald City, and with her army she attempts to wrest control from the interlopers.My favorite character is the Highly Magnified Woggle-Bug. I like this book better than the first one in this series, the famous one that was slashed to pieces for the film version. I have issues with that.

Somewhere in my mom’s house, there’s a low-quality VHS animated film adaptation of this book that I didn’t really like but still watched quite a bit and that’s the movie’s problem because I really enjoy this story. In this story, Tip lives with the evil Mombi until he has to escape so that she doesn’t turn him to stone. He travels Oz and meets the Scarecrow while he’s in the middle of a crisis. Adventure ensues. This book is definitely less iconic than the first and a little more silly but I still appreciate the sense of adventure and magic. I also think there were a lot of strong women in this story and the reveal at the end could bring up an interesting conversation but because it’s the twist, I can’t really say much here.

A classic that all should read!