Before I had kids, I reread the Wizard of Oz and felt it didn’t hold up as well as some other childhood favorites like Little House on the Prairie or The Book of Three. But reading the book to Stella (our second time through!) I realized how much better the story works when read aloud to a 4 year old.

We have the 100th anniversary edition which is a facsimile of the original first publication – the pages are covered in illustration (sometimes overly so, as on occasion the text is hard to read!) but they certainly keep a child’s interest. It’s pretty magical trying to imagine back to Stella’s first time hearing this story–tornados can take you up into the air to another world? There can be yellow brick roads to discover which will lead you on an adventure? Young girls can get rid of terrible witches and then find their way back home again? I did try reading the second book in the Oz series,The Marvelous Land of Oz, to Stella not long ago but stopped after the first few chapters–it seemed a scattered, strange book meant for perhaps for older children.  And where the heck is Dorothy in that book anyway? Better to keep rereading The Wizard of Oz again and again.

Tags:
• reading aloud,
• 4 year olds,
• wizard of oz