Banned Books discussion

This thread is to discuss L. Frank Baum's classic story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz about a girl and her friends traveling through the mystical land of Oz. It came under fire in Detroit, where it was banned from the libraries for having "no value" for children and supporting "negativism."

Try as I might, I do not care for this story. Don't hate me! It's just too out there. I enjoy the movie mainly for the cute little dog but the book is bizarre. I loved Wicked and was fascinated by the mythology, most of which comes from Baum's novels but this classic does not appeal to me. My brother read it with his 10-year-old son who loved it!

I just read this (a reread for me) with my 6 year old daughter! She loves the movie, so I read the book to her. She liked it, buy she likes the movie better. I actually am only so-so on the movie (Don't hate me, either!), the book I like. I love the sequel movie, Return to OZ, and it more closely follows books 2 and 3.

Baum was from Chittenengo, NY, a few hours away from where I live. They have an OZ fest (I think it was a couple of weeks ago). The main street is made of yellow bricks. Even the casino up there is called Yellow Brick Road! lol

I have not read the book and have also not seen the movie (I guess I should remedy this). Did not know there is actually a series of Oz novels.

book recommendation: Was by Geoff Ryman. this covers both a fictionalized version of Baum and the "real life" (made up for the novel) Dorothy. I won't reveal any more than that!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

I remember reading this entire series as a kid and loving it. So many creative ideas and a great intro to fantasy. Time for a reread, I think.

Also, if you're interested in a darker sequel of sorts, the Dorothy Must Die Trilogy is fascinating.

Manybooks wrote: "I have not read the book and have also not seen the movie (I guess I should remedy this). Did not know there is actually a series of Oz novels."

You've never seen the movie? Ever?! It's a classic. You can't beat the songs. Judy Garland is amazing. My uncle's favorite. When his first two grandkids were born, I bought them Cozy Classics: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: A BabyLit® Colors Primer. The oldest was Dorothy for Halloween last year, just like her Mommy was when she was a girl.

The book has a lot of extraneous strange people and things that happen in Oz.

Some of the books were written by Baum and the series was continued by someone else.

I can't wait to drag my nieces to see the Wicked movie (part 1 this fall). That's banned from some schools due to sexual content. It has one weird graphic scene and one sweet love scene.

FYI: The original Baum novel contains the word "queer" in the original meaning of strange. I'm pretty sure it's in the movie too.

According to Goodreads, Baum wrote the first 15 books before it being continued. It's a long series and I loved it. I didn't like the first one nearly as much. It's very different. It's allegedly a political allegory but he denied it. It definitely reads like it is.

The series was one of my faves growing up. The movie of the first book terrified me. Those monkeys!

I read Wicked and didn't like it but I'd like to see the play.

QNPoohBear wrote: "Manybooks wrote: "I have not read the book and have also not seen the movie (I guess I should remedy this). Did not know there is actually a series of Oz novels."

You've never seen the movie? Ever..."

I know about the movie and know all of the songs but just never got the chance to watch it. should change that.

Wow, I don't know how you've managed to avoid it!

It's my dad's favorite movie. I'm surprised I wasn't named Dorothy...
I feel like we could have a whole thread on OZ spinoffs... here's another one! My daughter found an animated show on Prime, Lost in OZ. I've caught a few episodes with her, it's good. It's more of OZ in the 21st century.

About 10 years ago I decided to read the books for the first time. I think I stopped after book 4 or 5. There were lots more characters that I had never heard of before. There's not a ton of continuity between the books.

So about this being banned... I'm surprised at the reasoning. There's no redeeming value?? The book covers friendship, trust, bravery, kindness, etc. It would almost make more sense if people were upset over talking animals!

It was banned so long ago! It's not on anyone's radar at the moment but Wicked is. The first half of the Wicked musical follows the book but the second act departs from the story and after slogging through all of the Wicked Years sequels, I like the musical better! I didn't at first but I had just read the sequel.

"The Wizard of Oz was banned by all public libraries in 1928 because the book was deemed ungodly for “depicting women in strong leadership roles.” However, the most notorious banning was in 1986 when seven families from Tennessee filed a lawsuit to remove the book from school syllabuses.

https://www.canterburyclassicsbooks.c....

" In 1928, public libraries across the country pulled the books from their shelves.[4] ­­­Why was The Wonderful Wizard of Oz banned? Reasons range from Baum’s “wonder tale” being “untrue to life” (isn’t that the point of a wonder tale), to the use of witchcraft, to its portrayal of a strong female protagonist.[5]

One of the most publicized cases against The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, however, occurred in 1986. A group of Fundamentalist Christian families from Tennessee got together and tried to have the book removed from the public school syllabus. Baum’s work was among a number of books that the families felt promoted “occultism, secular humanism, evolution, disobedience to parents, pacifism, and feminism.”[6]

The families specifically disapproved of Baum’s characterization of some witches as good, because as we all know witches are in fact bad, very, very bad. One mother worried that reading this book would cause her children to be “seduced into godless supernaturalism.”[7] The federal judge who presided over the case ruled that children of the parents who brought the suit could be excused from lessons about Baum’s book. But the families weren’t happy with such a limited outcome. They wanted to make sure that no students were reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in class. So, they appealed the judge’s decision to the United States Supreme Court. Thankfully, the justices refused to hear the case.[8]"

https://thisbookisbanned.com/banned/w...

Yeah, well, the ONLY truly EVIL witches and warlocks are book banners and those (including politicians, clerics etc.) who support them and cater to them.

Good God.

I read through Tik-Tok of Oz as a kid, and recall loving all the crazy fantastical being that were introduced in each new book. I stopped the series because my 5th grade teacher cautioned me to be careful about what I pollute my mind with. I remember being so complimented that she cared so much about me . For the remainder of that school year I read Sweet Valley High and the like. It's crazy how influential small comments from trusted adults can be at that age.

I really ought to reread the series. I didn't even think about them when I was raising kids.

Sweet Valley High? In fifth grade? Talk about poisoning minds. Let's teach 10 year olds to only think about getting boys.

I was very intrigued by the tik-tok concept in Wicked. I just can't get into the original Oz books as much. Maybe if they had a central character I liked and could root for I could get over the bizarreness of Oz. Still, I was mad when my little cousins scribbled over the pages of my vintage Juvenile Illustrated Classics edition of the novel. I read it maybe once or twice, my cousin borrowed it and her brothers didn't value it.

I gave my oldest niece a graphic novel version that had updated illustrations and the graphic novel in the front with the original text of the novel in the back. I don't think she ever read it and her little brother listened to it as an audiobook! He wanted to listen to the rest of the series but they're not easily available.

Yeah, audiobooks of older books that aren't classics aren't made as often. I think it's that people don't want them as often so there isn't an incentive.

For books in public domain, there are a lot of places to find free ones now. The sequels will be harder since the series is so long and out of print I think, but sometimes LibriVox will have obscure titles. Or you could record it yourself there!

My brother and SIL have done their own audiobook recording in the past but I think everyone was too busy this time. My nephew can get the books from the library, as far as I know. They just have to request it to be sent to their nearest library if his school doesn't have them.