Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road? : L. Frank Baum – “The Emerald City of Oz” (Oz #6)

The Road to Oz is paved with L. Frank Baum's cruel intentions. Much like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle could barely restrain his murderous tendencies toward Sherlock Holmes, Baum hates Oz, and his desperate need to  wipe out the land is manifest in "The Emerald City of Oz," the sixth book in the series, published in 1910. …

Pot-Boilers : “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” and “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” (#1 and 2)

(Re-read) Before J. K. Rowling was aiming for a stolid "Masterpiece Mystery!" slot, she was doing what the good Lord intended her to do with the fantasy books that set the template for almost two decades of children (and Y/A) series. On re-read, the Harry Potter books lose none of their charms.  The term "world-building" now …

Mangaboos and Love Magnets : L. Frank Baum – “Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz” and “The Road to Oz” (Oz #4 and Oz #5)

Our continuing journey through Oz... continues. In 1906, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit San Francisco, destroying, by some estimates, 80% of the city, and resulting in the deaths of over 3,000 people. Naturally, that WOULD inspire someone to write a cheerful children's book, and who better than natural-disaster fetishist L. Frank Baum? "Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz" lives up to its …

Grrl Riot : L. Frank Baum – “The Marvelous Land of Oz” and “Ozma of Oz”(Oz #2 and #3)

L. Frank Baum based General Jinjur, (the hottie, haughty leader of the girls-only Army of Revolt that sweeps through "The Marvelous Land of Oz") on his personal observations of the suffragette movement's more salient figures. Jinjur is a proto-feminist tsunami; fed up with the patriarchal rule of the Scarecrow King, she marches into Emerald City …