Wednesday, January 7, 2009

The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, illustrated by Charles Santore


"My darling child!" she cried, folding Dorothy in her arms and covering her face with kisses, "where on earth did you come from?"
"From the Land of Oz," said Dorothy gravely. "And here is Toto, too. And oh, Aunt Em! I'm so glad to be at home again!"

Peter pulled this book out today, which I haven't read aloud for some time. It is a wonderful condensed version of the original by Mr. Baum, with large, fabulous, imaginative illustrations by Charles Santore. One of my favorite drawings is of the hammerheads! 

It's a great "bridge" book: it allows a younger reader to enjoy the story with the added pictures. Of course, we don't read it all in one sitting. My sister, Daily Grapefruit, gave us this book 14 years ago, so we have enjoyed it for some time, but I don't know if it is still in print.

Trivia: Did you know that Frank Baum originally published his story in 1900?!

(New York: Jelly Bean Press, 1991.)

1 comment:

Grapefruit said...

Wow, I'd forgotten I gave that to you until you mentioned it. Good thing I'm such an awesome aunt! :) This looks like something my girls would like. I'll have to see if I can find it. I love this book site Liz, you do a great job w/it.