The Wizard of Oz

This BBC Radio dramatization of Baum's classic takes listeners back to the days when families gathered around the old Philco and listened to talented vocal artists. Maureen Lipman rightfully gets top billing for her deliciously evil Wicked Witch of the West. You hear her churlish grin in every cackle as she plots to outwit that "goody-goody" Belinda and "her wimpish friends." Baum's irony is brought to life by the "brainless" Scarecrow's clever problem-solving, the "heartless" Tin Man's compassion, and the "cowardly" Lion's bravery. One minor complaint . . . although the story is truer to the book than the movie, the illustrated cover shows ruby slippers instead of silver. N.E.M. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

January 25, 1999
Viennese illustrator and Hans Christian Andersen Medalist Lisbeth Zwerger takes a fresh look at L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz in a large-format edition. Zwerger's fantastical, delicate, eccentric illustrations bear no resemblance to the vision of the movie; they make the classic tale new again. And readers can view the Emerald City through a pair of green-tinted glasses, provided in the back of the book.

October 29, 2012
Caldwell’s angular, dynamic artwork leans more toward Saturday-morning cartoons than romantic fantasy in the fourth comics adaptation in his All-Action Classics series. His Dorothy is gap-toothed and freckled; the black-eyed and troll-like Munchkins are truly alien; and the witches recall Disney villainesses like Snow White’s Queen or The Little Mermaid’s Ursula. (Caldwell’s Wicked Witch of the West even speaks with a Western twang: “You and yer little furry thing have back-breaking, bone-crunching work to do!”) Caldwell follows Baum’s original novel rather than the iconic film. The heroes are pursued by the Kalidah, “horrific beasts, with heads like tigers and bodies like bears,” and the famous path the four friends follow, as in the original, is called the “road of golden bricks.” The humor, though, is his own. “She enslaved and tormented us!” says one Munchkin about the Wicked Witch of the East. “She despoiled our lands!” says a second. “And cut library funding!” adds a third. Caldwell’s Wizard of Oz slots conveniently between Spongebob Squarepants and Adventure Time, and readers will fly through this story with the speed of winged monkeys. Ages 10–14. (Nov.)■

THE WIZARD OF OZ is a bleaker and more frightening book than the movie that was made from it. So children (and their adults) who expect Dorothy to burst into cheery song should be prepared. That said, it is full of adventure. Adams Morgan enunciates his narration overprecisely, sounding somewhat affected until one becomes used to it. Otherwise, his characterizations are delightful--the Tin Woodman even sounds hollow--and his pacing careful enough to let young listeners keep up with the action. A.C.S. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine