The most beautiful of this novel so far. Illustrations to die for. ( )

For Christmas, I ordered an mp3 player (Library of Classics) that was pre-loaded with 100 works of classic literature in an audio format. Each work is in the public domain and is read by amateurs, so the quality of the presentation is hit or miss.

The Wizard of Oz is an iconic motion picture, from a children’s book written by L. Frank Baum. Everyone should be familiar with the movie, and while the book is obviously very similar, it contains quite a bit of extra material as well as a few major differences. For example, in the book, Dorothy does not wear ruby red slippers, but silver shoes instead.

This book is an excellent beginner book for young readers, though there is perhaps more violence than some may consider appropriate for very young children. Highly recommended. ( )

This book would be good to use when talking about fantasy. I think students will like this because of the adventure the main character goes on. ( )

I've read this a million times over but pulled it up to read on my phone while waiting for something and now I have to read it all.

Summary:
This story is about a girl named Dorothy who lives in Kansas but her house gets taken away by a tornado with her in it. She is told to go to Emerald City, where Oz will help get her back home. On her way there, she meets the Tinman, Scarecrow, and the Lion who all accompany her to Emerald City. When they get there Oz tells them if they defeat the wicked witch of the west, he will grant them their wishes. They do defeat her but then find out Oz really can't do what he said he would. But he gets a hot air balloon to try to help Dorothy, but it ends up leaving without her. Then she gets told by one of the good witches if she clicks the heals of her slippers together, she will magically go back to Kansas, so that's what she does and she ends up back home.

Personal Reaction:
This has been one of my favorite stories every since I was a little girl and I don't think I will ever get tired of it. It really gets children to use their imaginations, especially since Dorothy makes friends with talking lions, scarecrows and tinmans, and she even gets to click her slippers together to go back home.

Classroom Extensions:
1. Have a dress-up days when you're going to read this book. Let the children dress like their favorite characters from the book and maybe even make a yellow brick road around the classroom.
2. Let the entire class participate in making a giant scarecrow.
3. Since Dorothy uses water to melt the witch, do an activity with the students showing them other things water can melt, such as ice and sugar.