~ Everybody knows the story of The Wizard of Oz.

Dorothy gets swept up in a tornado, kills the witch, there’s some red shoes and the lollipop guild, follow the yellow brick road, scarecrow wants a brain, tin man wants a heart, lion want courage, there’s THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE OZ, some flying monkeys, Dorothy kills the witch, scarecrow gets a brain, tin man gets a heart,lion gets courage, Toto jumps out of the balloon, Dorothy follows, “boo hoo,I’ll never get home”, good witch appears, click-click-click, and they all live happily ever after.

Simple enough, it’s been done so many different ways it’s hard to keep track. There’s one thing that sets this one apart from all the
others…the illustrations. Amanda Gulliver does an AMAZING job of illustrating this classic story. I’ve read this book four times. (Yes, it is a children’s book, but it still counts.)

The first time was to read the story. The second time I was bored, so I read it again. This time paying more attention to the illustrations I noticed that the grass was a picture of real grass. How cool is that? The third time was for this review and as I was reading I noticed that Dorothy’s dress was a picture of real fabric. As I continued the story I noticed more and more things like that. The fourth time I didn’t pay any attention to the words at all. I simply looked to see how many real things were in the book. I’ve found quite a few and I’m not even sure if I’ve found them all.

This is a wonderful book. I would love to read this with a small child because it’s like a treasure hunt every time you read the book. I’m always discovering something new.

My verdict:  Read it! Own it! This is a beautiful book for a classic tale.