The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, sometimes considered the first American fairy tale, is the story of a girl’s search for her home. It is a tale of friendship and loyalty. Dorothy’s burning desire to return to her family and to the life from which the cyclone carried her is one that will resonate with children today, even though the book was written over a century ago. L. Frank Baum uses fantastic creatures and beautifully described and unusual settings to bring the land of Oz to life. The stories and situations are straight-forward and easy for a child to understand and sympathize with, but their uniqueness makes the narrative interesting to adults, as well.

This novel inspired the Oscar-winning classic film, The Wizard of Oz. Readers who have seen the movie will be familiar with the basic premise, but the novel is different enough that the tale is still entertaining.

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  None

Violence/Gore:  Brief comic scene where characters are knocked over and slapped; character instructs other characters to kill; character threatens to beat and kill another character; recount of a person losing limbs (not graphic); characters receive minor injuries from fantasy creatures; character hits other characters with a whip; character is bitten by an animal; character is killed by a large falling object (not graphic); character is killed by magic in a brief, non-descriptive way; animals fall to their deaths; animal is killed with an axe (no details); brief scene where many animals are killed without much description.

Sex/Nudity:  None

Mature Subject Matter:

Slavery.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

None