March 9, 2013

I got to see the new Oz the Great and Powerful movie with family today and it made me want to get back to reading more of  Baum's stories of the land of Oz. If you're interested in my review of the movie: I probably liked it better than a lot of the critics whose reviews I've read. I did like the new elements from the original books, e.g., the china doll, and I appreciated the homage to the 1939 movie we all love.

Another note from today: I finished a grown-up book (Once Upon a Time, There Was You by Elizabeth Berg) and it reminded me to mention here that I asked Abby this week to tell her doll a story. She quickly began with "Once upon a time..." How strange, I thought, as I don't remember reading her any stories that begin in that classic way. I don't know about others who read her stories. Do you suppose she picked that up just from watching the Shrek movie?

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One of the discoveries I made originally with my oldest grandson was Rosemary Wells’ Max and Ruby. Everyone loves the animated TV series which debuted in 2002 and is based on the books dating from 1979. We have several books based on the TV series; recently we read Max’s Valentine and Ruby’s Rainy Day. Neither of these two happens to completely capture the charm and humor of the TV series, but the children seem to like them and Max and Ruby always make me smile. I’m positive that I would’ve adored Max and Ruby books if I’d had them available to me as a little girl. Unfortunately Rosemary Wells is just about my age, so while I couldn’t have read her books while growing up, maybe—maybe—we read some of the same books. It’s nice to consider.

Ah, the 21^st century! The Elephant’s Child – How the Elephant Got His Trunk by Rudyard Kipling, adapted by Karen Baicker, was one of the first children’s books I put on my NOOK to entertain the little ones. Nope, I’ve not read much Kipling myself so this was an OK choice for me too. With the NOOK you have the option to read the story yourself or have it read to you. Abby loves having it read to her by the narrator—and she loves “flipping” the pages herself.

Back to some heftier children’s books. Next I read Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting (the first book in the series). Not only have I never read this book before but I’ve never seen either contemporary Dr. Dolittle movie (the Rex Harrison version or the Eddie Murphy version). The introduction by Hugh Walpole describes Doctor Dolittle as “the first real children’s classic since ‘Alice (in Wonderland)’.” So now I have to confess that Alice is on my to-read list also—but if this book is comparable, I’m disappointed. This was such a light book—truly felt more written BY children than written FOR children.

Then it was back to Oz—specifically Ozma of Oz. Getting my van’s tires rotated one day took 4 times longer than it should have so I was easily able to read this entire story while waiting in the customer service area. This one returned to the characters we all know and love—Dorothy makes a return visit to Oz and in the end makes arrangements to be able to visit again when she so chooses. It also introduced some new characters, all of which I enjoyed.