Oz

The Wizard of Oz is a true classic. My sisters and I grew up on the movie, its badly done sequel, and the movie about Baum himself. We loved every second of that magically colorful world over the rainbow.
However, my parents are not big readers. My older sisters preferred V. C. Andrews, my brother enjoyed Piers Anthony and Terry Brooks. So it wasn't until high school that one of my younger sisters and I discovered the magic of the book that made the movie. I read it to her, as I often did. She didn't care to read, though she loved stories. Many of my most cherished books are those I shared with her. Books she had to read for school reports I read to her.
We had heard there were more books to the Oz series, we just didn't know how many. Then, last year, she searched Amazon for them, and found this amazing book with all fifteen of the Oz stories! Luckily before I flew home after Christmas of 2011, Amazon sent her another copy. Don't know why, and they didn't charge her, but we were not complaining. I now had a copy. In 2012 I only made it through five of the books, but I will continue them soon.
Oz is wonderful. Captures the imagination. Though, I must admit, sometimes the characters are vain and downright rude, and the view of women and children during that time is irritating, I still hold these stories in a special place in my heart. Especially that very first book that started it all. That one, and the second and third, so far, recieve five stars from me. It becomes sort of apparent that Baum is a little tired of Oz after awhile, but he continued the series at the request of his fans. I think this diminished the quality of the fourth book a bit, but not to the extent some have criticized it. Guess I will soon find out if Baum found his passion for Oz again or if the stories get worse. I'll follow up on this post as soon as I've read a few more of them and give my thoughts on the matter.