The Magic of Oz, by L. Frank Baum

The penultimate book in the series as written by Baum. If there weren't another twenty-some more books widely considered as part of the Oz canon I think I would be very sad. As it is, I think I still am. I think it's possible to make these books feel fresh and new, even twelve books into the series, because anything, and I mean anything, can happen in Oz, so there are no contraints, natural or artificial, binding the author's creativity. Of course the plot line doesn't change all that much from book to book—there's only a handful of those to choose from here—but the intriguing and unique characters that fill in the bare bones of the plots are what make the books enjoyable one right after the other. The Magic of Oz is another winner for me, full of just enough adult-size humor to give depth to the child's fairy story. This is children's fantasy at its best.

The Tin Woodman of Oz, by L. Frank Baum (our reviews)

There are only two more books, after this one, left in the Oz series as written by Baum, and I am sad to see the end so obviously in sight. While there are yet another 26 books in what is considred the Oz canon, I am a sentimentalist, and it will be hard, and a little nerve wracking, to break into the Oz world as imagined by other authors. I am hoping that, if so many other Ozites consider these other books to be canon, we will be just as happy with them as we have been with Baum's vision, and certainly there are far more than 26 other Oz books out there, so selectivity did come into play. My fingers are crossed and my breath held as we near the end of Baum's road, though.

The Tin Woodman of Oz, though, was also a slight variation from Baum's usual, and I've heard that this, and the last two books in the series, are dark by comparison to his previous books of wonder. In the Tin Woodman, in fact, the reader is reminded of the Tin Woodman's somewhat gruesome past, and also meets his severed head, on the tinsmith's shelf, and many of his former body parts, now glued back together to create a different being. And, if these anomolies are not enough, there is definitely a thinly veiled question here about makeup of a soul, and the value of a body. Which, after all, is the real Tin Woodman, Nick Chopper? Is it the head, with the brain, the body, with the heart, or the new tin creation, with the memories, the creature we have all become accustomed to? There is really a lot of symbolism and imagery in all of Baum's work, much of it being politically motivated by the situations of the early 20th century, but this is perhaps the most striking, and the most demanding, of them all.

For all of that, however, much of this is naturally over a four-year-old's head, and since I did not see fit to draw attention to these complex themes, although I'm sure we could have discussed them, Calvin enjoyed this book as he has all the others: deeply and with great excitement.

The Lost Princess of Oz, by L. Frank Baum (our reviews)

This rates at the top of the Oz list for me. I enjoyed all the books, but as with any series some will inevitablly be better than others. The Lost Princess of Oz is the tenth book in the series and it brought back every single one of our favorite characters. Calvin loved it. The first few chapters were almost like a roll call and every time another of our best loved friends arrived for the story Calvin would giggle with joy. And we met some delightful new ones, too.

Rinkitink in Oz, by L. Frank Baum (a review by Calvin)

Fun, imaginitive, a bit of good vs. evil with good winning the fight, Rinkitink in Oz is a standard Baum fairy story, but the only reason it's an Oz book is that Dorothy and the Wizard make a cameo appearance in the last chapter or so, and the new Nome King, too. I think Calvin missed our old friends, but he's so captivated by these books in general that I'm not sure he remembered he missed them until they showed up at the end. Another Baum that gets an A+ from us.

The Scarecrow of Oz (review by Calvin)

This was a great return to the magical Land of Oz. I was a little worried before we started because the last book was a disappointment and I thought maybe the remainder of the series might follow that pattern, but The Scarecrow of Oz brought back all the things I originally loved about these stories. As usual, Calvin gave it an A plus.