[JenB]

Hmmm... I never saw that movie version. Didn't know they included poor Eustace (who's probably my favorite character from Narnia)

I read most of the "Oz" books when I was younger. Frankly, Baum wasn't the best wordsmith, and the later Oz books are slightly repetitive and very - well, was he on drugs? - and there are a couple of silly semi-communist themes that struck me as ridiculous when I was 10. Cute, but not a whole lot more than that.

[Fedora]

I liked the first two books; haven't read the later ones. Baum became addicted to morphine in his later years, but I don't know how early that started or if he was on anything while he was writing the Oz books. As for his political beliefs, it's been argued that he was a Populist--some stuff on that here:

Critics on Oz

However, for Oz scholars' rebuttal to this interpretation, see:

THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ LIST OF FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

See 2.14-2.16, which also address the drug question.

[RosieCotton]

I was really little when I read the Oz books, so I guess I didn't exactly analyze them very much. I could very well be disappointed if I went back and read 'em.

I remember being horribly diappointed when going back to read Lloyd Alexander's Black Cauldron series...can't remember the right name for it. It was entertaining, but wasn't that well written, really. Needed a couple more drafts, I guess. Now I see why Mom rebelled against reading those to us. We read them on our own, some of us, but she couldn't stand them.