anotheranon (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
anotheranon) wrote2009-06-25 08:46 pm
anotheranon) wrote2009-06-25 08:46 pm
Oz
No, not the show, the books. And the movie. And, I'm discovering, lots of the other stuff as well....
Let me explain. I was first hooked by the series as a kid back in the '70s-'80s. I remember that the classic movie was always aired once a year on network tv with much fanfare, and it was one of the times my sister and I commanded the tv. It's cute, it's fun, it has songs.
But the books were so much better! I can't remember when I read the first, but it was so much clearer that Dorothy was a little girl - a little girl (like I was at the time), but she had adventures. With her dog. To a kid, that sells it :)
Being an obsessive child I saved my allowance and got each successive one, though I remember them being hard to find. Big huge day when I finally found the last one.
I named my favorite doll Dorothy, and had some Barbie-size dolls of the characters from the movie. Later I made some of the series characters (I can only remember Sawhorse) myself, and additional clothes for the small dolls (my first sewing projects?). Biggest triumph was accompanying Dad to the workbench to make a life-size Jack Pumpkinhead that sat outside for many Halloweens (and in the living room most of the rest of the year).
And I grew up, and moved on. Rereading them now I have to admit they're definitely for kids, and rather schmaltzy.
But then someone told me about Wicked.
I'm finding that Oz is still everywhere. I only recently found out that "Wicked" had sequels??, and even the Muppets played in that universe. The purist kid I was would be horrified (I never bothered with ANYTHING but the original L. Frank Baum books, thankyewverramuch), but my adult self is amused and surprised at all the variations that continue to come out of that 100-year-old sandbox :)
Though I'm hanging on to my dogeared, mismatched set of the original 14, in a musty box pending actual shelf space.
What book or book series from your childhood casts a long shadow?
Let me explain. I was first hooked by the series as a kid back in the '70s-'80s. I remember that the classic movie was always aired once a year on network tv with much fanfare, and it was one of the times my sister and I commanded the tv. It's cute, it's fun, it has songs.
But the books were so much better! I can't remember when I read the first, but it was so much clearer that Dorothy was a little girl - a little girl (like I was at the time), but she had adventures. With her dog. To a kid, that sells it :)
Being an obsessive child I saved my allowance and got each successive one, though I remember them being hard to find. Big huge day when I finally found the last one.
I named my favorite doll Dorothy, and had some Barbie-size dolls of the characters from the movie. Later I made some of the series characters (I can only remember Sawhorse) myself, and additional clothes for the small dolls (my first sewing projects?). Biggest triumph was accompanying Dad to the workbench to make a life-size Jack Pumpkinhead that sat outside for many Halloweens (and in the living room most of the rest of the year).
And I grew up, and moved on. Rereading them now I have to admit they're definitely for kids, and rather schmaltzy.
But then someone told me about Wicked.
I'm finding that Oz is still everywhere. I only recently found out that "Wicked" had sequels??, and even the Muppets played in that universe. The purist kid I was would be horrified (I never bothered with ANYTHING but the original L. Frank Baum books, thankyewverramuch), but my adult self is amused and surprised at all the variations that continue to come out of that 100-year-old sandbox :)
Though I'm hanging on to my dogeared, mismatched set of the original 14, in a musty box pending actual shelf space.
What book or book series from your childhood casts a long shadow?
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Thanks for the tip re: Shanower! Not read any of his, but am on the lookout!
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I love de Camp's other writings; I forgot that he dealt with Oz in the Compleat enchanter series though!
For information on Shanower's Oz books and the Oz annual, see http://www.hungrytigerpress.com/books/adventuresinoz.shtml
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My mother did buy the Wizard of OZ and The Land of Oz for us. I didn't know till many years later that there were more of the books or that the Land of Oz featured the first sex change in fiction.
We have the sequel to Wicked, Son of the Witch, and would be more then happy to send it to you if you want it. We also have the Philip J. Farmer book as well if you would like.
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I'd love to borrow these books from you, but only if I can lend in return. Perhaps some of the L. Frank Baum's you missed as a kid or - ?
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Others include:
Books have always been my first love and a comfort when nothing else has been. I suppose it was inevitable that I became a librarian! ;-p
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I read Narnia when I was around... 10? 11? As an older kid, in any event. I too never really picked up on the Christian stuff until much later. I could say the same of "Wrinkle in Time".
Re: Pern books - I first read these a couple of years ago and was less than impressed, I think mostly because I don't have happy childhood memories of them + have seen/read some of the cheesy dragon stuff it inspired :/
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Books casting a long shadow
(Anonymous) 2009-06-27 01:20 am (UTC)(link)Tove Jansson's Moomintroll books; Edward Eager's books (Half Magic, etc.) and those by E. Nesbit (The Railway Children, the Bastable series, the Psammead series), and a wonderful series about the successive waves of conquest of Britain (Romans, Viking, Norman etc.) that I can't remember the title of, gosh darn it. The unifying device was a ring that had belonged to a Roman Centurion, passed down through one family...
Re: Books casting a long shadow
Re: the British conquest series - stay tuned, as there are a couple of librarians reading. If anyone can unravel what these might be they can :)
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