📖 Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum (1908) ⭐

Welcome my friends and fellow bookworms  Today I am going to be sharing with you my thoughts on the children’s novel, Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum, which is the fourth book in the magical Oz series, that was published in 1908. With no copies available through my library, I again fell back on the complete collection on my Kindle to start reading this for Ozathon, in March.

We re-join young Dorothy Gale, back in the USA, as she is travelling in a horse and buggy to visit her relatives, with her little black cat called Eureka. When suddenly an earthquake hits, causing a giant crack to open, which swallows up horse, buggy and all its passengers! Remarkably, they fall slowly and safely down to a weird world within the earth, where they are joined by the Wizard in his balloon.

To return to the earth’s surface, Dorothy and her companions must travel up through numerous magical levels, that are filled with many wonders, dangers and creatures; including: heartless vegetable people, invisible bears, flying wooden people and baby dragons! It was good fun going on this adventure with Dorothy and her cute, talking cat, Eureka.

Alas I didn’t really warm to any of her other companions and the creatures we meet along the way are pretty much all unpleasant, too. In particular, I can’t say the Wizard was a character I felt I needed another story about, especially after the revelations made about him in The Marvelous Land of Oz, which are bizarrely glossed over and/or retrograded during this story. 🤷‍♀️

Overall, I thought Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum was another short and easy read, with some fun elements, but was let down by the side characters, and several plot contrivances and/or contradictions. I am hoping the next book in the series will be more to my taste.
Rating: Okay 

Now I’d love to hear from you: Have you read this or any other books from the series? Please come chat in the comments below. 

Blessings, Jessica