This is the only Oz book by Baum where Glinda is referred to as a witch. Afterwards, she is called Glinda the Sorceress.
I like the way that the Scarecrow gets his brains in the book. The wizard fills his head with grain and pins and needles. He then has "bran new brains". The pins and needles prove that he is "sharp".
Whatever happened to the Hammerheads?
They get briefly mentioned in one of the later Oz books (Patchwork Girl, I think) to show that Oz isn't an absolutely perfect Utopia.
Great idea for a board! I'll have to reread all the books again so I can come up with some nits . . .
Baum also wrote a number of marvellous books outside this series. One of the best of these is Sky Island. It might be termed an Oz spin-off, since it features Trot, Captain Bill abd Button Bright from the Oz books. Captain Bill's ill-advised aviation experiments cause the adventurers to land on a magical island in the clouds, where they become involved in a conflict between a cruel, despotic blue-skinned race and a kind pink-skinned one. One of Baum's best efforts.
In "The Wizard of Oz," visitors to the Emerald City must wear spectacles in order to get the full effect of the city's glory. However, in the later books, there is no mention of needing to wear these spectacles.
Isn't the title "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"?
In high school, I did a term paper about all things about the Oz.. things like I compared Oz to Wonderland, Compared Oz to America, a discussion of various characters, the populist and socialist views of Oz, and a few other interesting things.. I got a good grade on it, too. clever title.. "Dropping the Baum: the Land of Oz below the Surface."
We watched the movie (though it would have been better to read the book) back in my AP American History course in high school. In addition to being a fun bit of fantasy, it's a pretty good free-silver debate (remember your late-19th-century American history?) allegory. I won't go into the whole spiel, but recall that the slippers are silver in the book.
The reason they were ruby in the movie was because this was the first color movie and silver slippers really wouldn't be that different looking from what they would be in a B&W movie.
What a world, what a world...
This is the book that started it all. 13 Oz books by Baum followed (as well as other fantasies that were later tied in to the Oz universe), and a number of later books by other authors. And of course, a number of stage and screen adaptations, one of them the 1939 classic movie.
When promoting this book, Baum described it as a modern fairy tale, in which much of the darkness and heartache of most fairy tales is left out. In this light, it's interesting to note that this is the most violent of all the Oz books, and contains a number of gruesome incidents. In order...
A wildcat is decapitated by the Tin Woodsman's axe. Said wildcat was chasing the Queen of the Field Mice, and the Tin Man rushed to her rescue.
Forty wolves are chopped by the Tin Woodsman's axe. The first is decapitated.
The Scarecrow's dark side comes next, as he twists the necks of forty crows (both the crows and the wolves had been sent by the Wicked Witch), killing all of them.
The Lion decapitates a giant spider monster later on, and witnesses its death throes.
In later books, there would be less of this sort of thing. The Tin Woodsman would wield his axe against other enemies, but there would be no mention of any being killed.
In other subjects...
The Good Witch of the North is rarely mentioned again in Baum's books. At the moment, I can only recall her being mentioned briefly in 'The Land of Oz', and making a very brief appearance in 'The Road to Oz' at Ozma's birthday party. When later books mention that only Glinda and the Wizard are licensed to practice magic in Oz, one has to wonder whatever happened to the Good Witch of the North. (Keep in mind that in the books, Glinda is the Good Witch of the South. I don't think Baum ever gave the Good Witch of the North a name).
But, if I recall aright, the Good Witch of the North (aka Tattypoo) did get a fair share of attention in The Giant Horse of Oz.
Regarding the colored spectacles that made the Emerald City seem green, they were still used during the reign of the Scarecrow and fell out of use only after the coronation of Princess Ozma. My guess is that when Ozma came to power, she use her resources to bedeck the City in more emeralds, jade, malachite, and marble to make it really green without the having to resort to colored glasses.
My problem is this, though. I have worn green colored glasses, as well as blue, pink and a few other colors. When peereing through them, I do not see an exclusively green landscape, but a perfectly ordinary landscape with a uniform green tinge. White objects do not appear green with their aid, as this book claims. They appear like white objects viewed through green glasses.
How on earth does a lion survive in a deciduous forest? Its yellow coat would make it stand out in the gloom like a bar of soap and make it virtually impossible to sneak up on prey unawares. Lions live in grasslands.
At the hill of the Hammerheads, why does nobody suggest getting off the road and walking around the hill?
Where exactly does the Queen of the Field Mice hold court? We first meet her at the edge of the Poppy Field, a day's journey east of the EC. Later in the book, the Tin Woodsman summons her (she appears with only a minute's delay) in the Winkie country west of the Wicked Witch's castle. In book 2 she also is found in the west.
L. Frank Baum got the name Oz from a label on a correspondence file cabinet in his alphabet designating the second half of the alphabet: O-Z.
Should have read: "in his office"
Sure beats "The Wonderful Wizard of A-N"
The Russian remake (The Wizard of Emerald City) and its follow-ups books by the mathematician Alexander Volkov are quite popular in eastern Europe and Germany (title pics below).
The Wizard of Emerald City
Urfin Juice and his Wooden Soldiers
The Seven Underground Kings
The Fire God of the Marrans
The Yellow Fog
The Secret of the Deserted Castle