Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz Books of Wonder

Customer Reviews

Unfortunately, I think Oz jumped the shark in the next book.

2008-11-16
I have wonderful memories of my father reading the first few Oz books to me at bedtime, and this one might just be my favorite. I'm not entirely sure why Baum chose the title, as they really barely get to Oz at all in this book, but whatever. The worlds they discover on their way to Oz are just as delightful, frightening, and mind-blowing as Oz itself.

I'd highly recommend this as a gift for an open-minded kid who likes fantasy. The text is also available for free online, since it's public domain and awesome--check it out!

Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz...or not.

2008-10-16
Not the greatest of the Oz books. True, we get the return of the Wizard, but it lacks the excitement and intrigue of the other books. It's not until the gang reaches Emerald City that the book gets really exciting. I did like the idea behind the Kingdom of the Vegetables, but the way it came out, and the journey before it and after just fell really really flat. The new characters, Jim and Zeb, also added absolutely nothing to the plot that we didn't already . But still, it's L. Frank Baum, so I can't rate it all that badly. Not to mention, the reunion of the Wizard with the rest of Emerald City was just amazing to read, because after the Wizard of Oz, who would have thought we'd ever see that reunion, right? Awesome!

No illustrations!

2008-10-14
We ordered this to read to our 5-year old. When we received it and discovered it had no illustrations we sent it back. The original O'Neill illustrations are so wonderful in the other ones.

Another good yarn

2008-03-30
This is another good yarn for the kiddos. Baum's storytelling holds up well and his little lessons are timeless (e.g. the dragonettes insisting beauty is the eye of the beholder) in this unique take on a center-of-the earth story. The science is a bit poor in this book as we see earthquakes swallowing people whole, California being beset by gaping quakes every half hour, gravity lessening at the earth's core, and so forth. Nonetheless, this is easy to look past when the audience is small children as opposed to teenagers.

All said and told, this was the least interesting story so far in my opinion, but fine for my young son and fine enough for me to continue purchasing the series.

Quake Takes Kansas Kid and Co. to Oz

2007-04-10
For the third time, Dorothy is swept up by terrifying events, this time falling through the earth in a California quake accompanied by a kid named Zeb, a horse called Jim, and Eureka the cat, who has replaced Toto. They all fall past weird, colored suns and land in the domain of the Mangaboos, who are vegetable people. True to nineteenth century plots (OK, this one was written in 1908), the natives are hostile, but the intrepid American kids and their animals defeat all the baddies. The kids are now accompanied by the Wizard, who, in his balloon, has also fallen through a crack. They fight with invisible bears and with flying wooden gargoyles before they reach Oz via a classic deus ex machina turn of events. The first three-quarters of the book is vintage Oz adventure stuff---kids will love it and so will you, no matter what age you are. I have loved this book ever since I first read it well over half a century ago. I remember how dark and dangerous it seemed to me then. The impressions of the underground scenes lasted in my mind for decades. Even when I read the end of Zola's "Germinal", I remembered DOROTHY AND THE WIZARD IN OZ--not perhaps so sophisticated a comment, but true anyhow. The last quarter is a kind of reunion, where we say hello to all the old characters and see how they are doing. It's like Baum ran out of ideas, but since he wrote a book every year, millions of kids were probably waiting for an update (similar to the Harry Potter series.) They would have been happy to read about their favorite characters again. I know I was.

This volume in Baum's series may not be the most exciting or well-written, but it had a special atmosphere, very threatening, with more violence than normal in Oz books---cutting, shooting, burning, etc. The reunion and party scenes at the end, including the bad behavior of the American animals, and their return home, are probably too long. Still, if you are an Oz fan, or want to be, you can't miss DOROTHY AND THE WIZARD IN OZ.

The Wiz is back

2006-06-22

Fantasy lovers of all ages will rejoice at this chance to travel once again to the marvelous land of Oz!

A California earthquake sends Dorothy Gale and her new friends--Zeb the farm boy, Jim the cab-horse, and Eureka the mischievous kitten--tumbling through a crack in the ground. Deep beneath the earth, Dorothy is reunited with her old friend the Wizard of Oz and his troupe of nine tiny piglets.

Together, Dorothy, the Wizard, and their friends travel through many fantastic lands, where they encounter the Mangaboos, people growing like vegetables in the ground; cross the Valley of Voe, where dama-fruit has turned everyone invisible; and are captured by mysterious flying Gargoyles. At last, the intrepid travelers reach Oz, where they have many unforgettable encounters with such favorites as the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger, Princess Ozma and the wooden Sawhorse.

Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz was the fourth Oz adventure. First published in 1908, it has captured the imaginations of young readers and listeners for four generations. Now a new generation can discover these superb adventures for themselves. This deluxe gift edition faithfully reproduces the rare first edition, including all sixteen color plates and all fifty black-and-white illustrations by John R. Neill, as well as the original colorful endpapers.

Afterword by Peter Glassman. A deluxe facsimile of the fourth Oz adventure--originally published in 1908--when Dorothy and the Wizard meet the Mangaboos. A Books of Wonder(R) Classic.

Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz

2006-03-12
My 9 year old daughter is very much enjoying all the books in the series. This one is no exception.

Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum

2005-08-15
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum is the fourth book in the oz series and deals with the adventures of dorothy, her relative zeb, the talking horse Jim and the the very strange kitten Heureka. In this story we get to meet the vegetable people, the return of the wizard of oz and princess ozma, the cowardly lion and many other beloved charachters from the former books. The illustrations are splendid and the adventures are filled with exciting encounters and astounding discriptions. This series just gets better and better and I can not wait to read the next book in this splendid series.

The best in the series

2003-01-09
While all of Baum's books are great, overall I think this was the one that I enjoyed the most. Like the very first book, the plot is simple. Dorothy gets pulled into a magical world against her will, and she wants to get home. She then goes through a series of adventures trying to achieve her goal. Although the book has "In Oz" in the title, Dorothy and the Wizard spend very little time actually in Oz. But don't let this put you off. The underground lands that they pass through are every bit as exciting and magical as the different lands actually in Oz. The ending (how they escape the underground world) is a bit weak, but the imaginative countries that they pass through and the adventures they have in each more than make up for this. Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz is a book that you will want to start reading again as soon as you finish, but don't. Go on to the next Oz book and then the next. While I believe that this was the best of the 14 original books in the series, they are all wonderful and I would recommend that everyone read the entire series from beginning to end. And then try the books written by some of the other authors. While none are as inspired as those written by Baum, many of them are very good.

And if you've read all the Oz books and are looking for other titles that are just as magical and just as inspired, try the Chronicles of Narnia, King Fortis the Brave or Abarat. All will introduce you to other magical worlds that are every bit as fun to visit as Oz.

Dorothy and the Wizard In Oz 2002-07-06
NOTE: This is not the edition of the book I would have liked to review. I just didn't see it anywhere. This review is based on the Del Rey edition.

Dorothy and the Wizard In Oz is the 4th book in The Wizard of Oz series.

In this story, Dorothy and Zebediah (Zeb), her second cousin, fell into the middle of the earth though a crack. When they landed, they were in a city. The rest of the story is the trying to get out of the middle of the earth.

There is one really neat thing that happens in this book. As many of you remember, whether you read the book or saw the movie, the Wizard of Oz floated away in a hot-air balloon. Well, in this book, the Wizard lands in the city where Dorothy and Zeb are. He must have been floating for a really long time!

As I have for all of the books in this series, I suggest this book for those who like to read for fun and don't mind a little major fantasy. (Like when Dorothy and Zeb fall through the earthquake to the center of the earth, they could've never survived!)