Title: Glinda of Oz
Author: L. Frank Baum
Pages: 283
Finished: February 19, 2018
First Sentence: Glinda, the good Sorceress of Oz, sat in the grand court of her palace, surrounded by her maids of honor—a hundred of the most beautiful girls of the Fairyland of Oz.
Summary: Upon finding out that the Flatheads and the Skeezers are on teh brink of war, Ozma and Dorothy travel to the northern border of their country to stop it. However, neither the Su-Dic or Queen Coo-ee-oh are interested in stopping the war. Sadly, Ozma and Dorothy are imprisoned in the Skeezer dome when the war goes poorly, and it's up to Glinda to rescue them.
Thoughts: So many thoughts on this book. As a kid, I was unaware of the order Baum wrote these books, and so I read this one after reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I remember it so well: Queen Coo-ee-oh, the Flatheads, the Three Adepts. Because of that, I felt way more nostalgic than I did for many of the ones in the middle.
At the beginning of his 13 previous books, Baum wrote a letter to his readers. Sadly, he died before this book was published, and the letter was written by the publishers. It's a sweet, though sad letter. I teared up while reading it. In the letter, the publishers promise two other books because they found the notes to them. That being said, this book felt like a fitting culmination of the series. Every single character that has shown up in the series made an appearance in this book to help in the end.
The three Adepts and the idea of the Krumbic witch show up in the Wicked series by Gregory Macguire.
Notes on the series as a whole: Reading level is probably precocious 3rd grade to 6th grade. That being said, I don't know how many 3rd to 6th graders would appreciate this series. It's a bit sweet. Completely different from how children's books are written now. Also, the conflicts are resolved very quickly, and in ways that aren't entirely believable to older kids. However, I really think that Kindergarten to 2nd graders would enjoy listening to these. Particularly because a parent can explain how continuity in series wasn't really a thing when Baum was writing these books. I think these books do play a role in our literature still. Dorothy and Ozma (and Trot and Betsy Bobbin) are strong female characters, which is impressive for books in the 1900s. As annoying as I found many of the books in this series, I will be reading them to my child when she gets older.
This is the last book in the Wizard of Oz challenge.
At the beginning of his 13 previous books, Baum wrote a letter to his readers. Sadly, he died before this book was published, and the letter was written by the publishers. It's a sweet, though sad letter. I teared up while reading it. In the letter, the publishers promise two other books because they found the notes to them. That being said, this book felt like a fitting culmination of the series. Every single character that has shown up in the series made an appearance in this book to help in the end.
The three Adepts and the idea of the Krumbic witch show up in the Wicked series by Gregory Macguire.
Notes on the series as a whole: Reading level is probably precocious 3rd grade to 6th grade. That being said, I don't know how many 3rd to 6th graders would appreciate this series. It's a bit sweet. Completely different from how children's books are written now. Also, the conflicts are resolved very quickly, and in ways that aren't entirely believable to older kids. However, I really think that Kindergarten to 2nd graders would enjoy listening to these. Particularly because a parent can explain how continuity in series wasn't really a thing when Baum was writing these books. I think these books do play a role in our literature still. Dorothy and Ozma (and Trot and Betsy Bobbin) are strong female characters, which is impressive for books in the 1900s. As annoying as I found many of the books in this series, I will be reading them to my child when she gets older.
This is the last book in the Wizard of Oz challenge.
LONG overdue: Congratulations for finishing the whole series! I'm super impressed (and obviously didn't manage it myself). Good job, Al.
ReplyDeleteThanks. It was definitely a bit of a slog midway through. I'm really glad I spaced them out a month in between each other because I definitely wouldn't have made it if I was just doing one after another.
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