The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

For the second book off of my #75 friend recommended book list, I chose to read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.

Well, I'd certainly seen the movie. I used to watch it over and over when I was a kid. I loved it, I loved the story, I loved how Dorothy was this meek little girl who ended up being strong and independent and stood up for herself, I loved that each of her friends brought their own little lesson to the story. I loved the witch, I loved everything. I even had a pair of ruby slippers when I was a kid, although in the book they're silver. They made them ruby in the movie because it's much more appealing to the eye, ya know?

The book I had never read before, not even once. I didn't know it was a chapter book and I had no idea how different it was from the movie. The main bits and characters are there, but there was so much left out from the movie and a few things changed around. The flying monkeys for example, they're actually good guys in the book! I had no idea!

I decided to read it to Penny, just to see if she'd tolerate me reading to her that much. And the first night alone she let me get through 38 pages of it before drifting off to her own little Emerald City. And then every night after I would read it to her until she fell asleep and she would lay with me and look at the pictures and be attentive and she seemed to really enjoy it. I can't wait to read it to her again when she's a little older and can ask questions and get into the story more. And I can't wait to watch the movie with her too!

So then I thought, wow, I really do love this story. I really enjoyed it and plan on reading it again. It made me fall in love with it all over again. :-) I think it might be cute to do a kid's room with a wizard of oz theme, so I decided to check out what Etsy had to offer that was W.o.O. related and I found some cute stuff!

These totally adorable modern take on the ruby slippers (even though in the book they're actually silver!)

How cute is this whimsical painting?

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this Somewhere Over the Rainbow print. How pop art! I love it.

And then I thought, maybe Penny could be Dorothy for Halloween next year? Guess what I found? THESE.

So cute. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and can't wait to read it again to Penny when she's a little bit older. I hope she loves it as much as I do! And now I'm going to start A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.