This week, I started listening to the audiobook version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I’ve been struck so far by the differences between the book and the movie. And, it’s not always the case where the book goes into more detail than the movie, which is usually the case with adaptations.
For instance, in the movie, a good few minutes are spent early on showing Dorothy at home in Kansas, wandering around and seeing people. But in the book, the cyclone hits almost immediately and whips her away to Oz.
Another major difference: the shoes she gets from the witch she crushes in the movie are ruby and in the book they’re silver.
The Wikipedia has a load of Oz information, including a full listing of all the books in the Oz series. There were 40 of them! L. Frank Baum wrote the first 14, with the rest split amongst another couple of writers. While I doubt that The Scalawagons of Oz carries quite the same appeal as the original Oz book, it’s nice to know it’s there should I ever feel the need to read all 40 Oz books in one sitting. Or at least 15 of them.
Posted in Miscellaneous