Kirsten Brown- The Wizard of Oz

I chose The Wizard of Oz, by Frank Baum, for two reasons. The first reason is that in the fall, I will be participating in the play The Wizard of Oz at Young Actors Theatre. I thought that by reading this book, I would be able to srudy for my play while also completing summer work. The second reason I chose this book was bcause I recently went to see the Broadway production of Wicked. I was able to participate in a backstage tour and was told that the ruby slippers were actually silver. The reason for this was that the play had to follow the book Wicked, not the movie The Wizard of Oz. I was told that in the original books, the slippers were silver and that to get around this legal issue, the silver slippers inWicked were constantly lighted by a red spotlight. This peeked my curiosity. What else was different in the book? I had only ever seen the movie, so I wanted to know how closely the producers had staid to the novel. I'm very glad that I chose The Wizard of Oz. There were many events in the book that weren't even mentioned in the movie such as the gaps in the yellow brick road, the cap of the winged monkeys, and the porcelain city. The book also conveyed the important ideas of the story much more effectively. It is very obvious in the book that the characters have what they are searching for all along. The Scarecrow is intelligent, the Tin Woodman is caring, and the Lion is brave even in the face of death. This book was incredibly entertaining and enlightening as well. I would recommend it to veryone.