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MarilynW
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| Posted: April 14 2015 at 7:10pm | IP Logged
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We have never read this and I decided to take it out of the library for our "read aloud evenings" (on my well trained mind reading list) - we have just started, and I was wondering what you think about it. Our family chooses not to read Harry Potter or Twilight or any of those books.
I guess we read Narnia which has "magic" and the "wicked witch"
So is the "magic" element of the Wizard of Oz similar to Narnia?
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guitarnan
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| Posted: April 14 2015 at 8:24pm | IP Logged
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Well...there is good magic and evil magic in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, but my children weren't scared by the evil magic. Of course you know the story...the evil witches both die. There are evil wolves and other creatures, plus the Winkies and winged monkeys, which might be scary to some children.
Wizard isn't an allegory, though, or based on Christianity the way the Narnia books are. Good is good, evil is evil and the Wizard is a humbug, but you can't see references to anything Biblical because they just aren't there.
When we read the book, we looked at two editions to compare illustrations (there are many editions) and watched the movie to see the differences between the movie and the book.
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: April 14 2015 at 10:08pm | IP Logged
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It isn't Christian, but I think it is traditional, like the use of magic in old-fashioned fairy tales. It is considered an American fairy tale.
There is a good made for television movie we liked growing up called The Dreamer of Oz starring John Ritter and Annette O'Toole. It tells the story of L. Frank Baum and his wife and how the stories of Oz came about from his storytelling.
I had friends growing up who weren't allowed to see it because Glenda was a "good" witch, but I've never been able to find fault with it. In the context of the story, I don't find it ambiguous at all just like I can't seem to find any sort of ambiguity in My Father's Dragon despite the fact that the dragon is portrayed as good rather than evil. Fwiw, I do think he was a theosophist much like P. L. Travers was if that factors into your discernment.
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MarilynW
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| Posted: April 15 2015 at 9:56pm | IP Logged
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Thanks for the feedback. We are reading a nicely illustrated version ( well my dh is reading aloud whilst I doze on the couch!!)
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Pilgrim
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| Posted: April 15 2015 at 10:09pm | IP Logged
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I felt there was a difference between the magic in the Oz stories and Narnia. Oz seemed more along the lines of Harry Potter and such, though not quite as bad. There is more odd magic especially as the Oz books developed. For example in one of the books one of the characters takes off and changes her head to other heads, may seem innocuous reading it here, but in the books it seemed more creepy, and a secular magic, compared to a moral magic such as in Narnia, LOTR, etc. Not the worst thing, but, just weird and kind of creepy. I can't name more incidences of just odd things that I felt were just not the same kind of magic as Narnia, but if you are feeling a difference for your comfort level for your family, follow your gut is my opinion. My husband grew up loving the Oz books because his mother(raised very, very liberally) loved them, but when we tried doing a read aloud I pointed the things out I was seeing and he agreed we wouldn't have them on our shelves/reading list, he saw the point and agreed.
Not wanting to start a debate, just trying to help with a voice from another perspective.
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countrymom
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| Posted: July 01 2015 at 10:45am | IP Logged
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my dh has read all of the oz books to our 3 middles for bedtime books. It is a LOT of books!
We don't do the HP and Twilight stuff either, dad as spiritual head has said no. But he does not mind the Oz books. We have many on CD as well. I hear them all the time  You gotta love Button Bright!
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4Real Forums : Living Literature
Topic: The Wizard of Oz?
