The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Journal

by Charles Santore

Book by Santore, Charles

Genres: Childrens, Classics, Picture Books, Fantasy, Fiction

160 pages, Hardcover

First published May 30, 1995

About the author

Charles Santore is an American illustrator best known for his children's books. His work is on display permanently at the Brandywine River Museum and the Museum of Modern Art. He won the Hamilton King award from the New York Society of Illustrators. His book William the Curious won the 1998 Storytelling World Honor from Storytelling magazine.

Reviews

[Mikayla]

I read this to a little girl I babysat and was completely weirded out. This story is bizarre. The only thing I appreciated was the use of colors and the strong emphasis on lovng home. I also liked the description of courage.
All in all, way to creepy for most kids, no really good morals, and kind of flat characters.
At least now I get more refrances.

[Laura Levon Schmidt]

The illustrations in this oversized version were superb. I’m glad to have read the abridged version, because the story is pretty weird and 104 pages was enough.

[Jillian Armstrong]

Had a blast reading this with my 5 year old! The illustrations in this addition are gorgeous!

[Zachary]

Charles Santore's illustrations were charming. There's something about watercolor that feels more whimsical. It's perfect for fairytales.

The abridged text made for a quick, fun read.

[Lisa R]

My daughter's absolute favourite story (probably because I paraphrase the text and we just flip through all the pictures lol). she's only 2.5 but she will tell you the whole (paraphrased) story.

[Chris]

Delightful illustrations. The story, shortened for this edition but only through removal of text, is fine. I'm not sure if I'm interested in reading the full story or any of its sequels.

[Joshua Reitano]

Love this illustrated edition. Read it to both of my children.

[Sandi Poyer]

This is an abridged telling of the story but I became curious after reading "Finding Dorothy." The author of that book referenced some differences between the book and the movie and since I had never read any Baum books (maybe to grandchildren some day), I was curious. One small example is that the end of the story does not have Dorothy waking up in her Kansas bed with the Oz story being a dream. Worth a quick read if you grew up on the movie.

[Emily]

Read aloud to my 9 year old. Can you believe he didn't know the story, and was all confused when I was trying to explain its story compared to "Wicked?" Charming abridgement, beautiful illustrations. Probably gonna make him watch the classic movie next.

[Tanya]

I read this with my 4yo and she loved it. The long picture book format was perfect for her. The story is condensed from the original, which is not my preference, but the gorgeous illustrations completely make up for that!

[Jessie]

Beautiful illustrations! This was a perfectly condensed version of the original. My 4-yr-old and I enjoyed reading this one together. 😊

[K.A. Mielke]

I did not read the abridged text, but am rating this edition 5-stars based on my flipping through and admiring these GORGEOUS illustrations.

[Anna]

Beautifully illustrated child-friendly version. My daughter loved this and we read this (lengthy for her, age 6) in 2 nights. After every chapter she wanted to keep going!

[Mandy Lewis]

My kids love this book. It is a great adaptation of a traditional story and the illustrations are just lovely.

[Leslie Carnahan]

THIS WIZARD OF OZ RENDITION IS ABSOLUTELY STUNNING

[Courtney Jones Cannon]

Lots of words per page, but an amazing read aloud because of the big pages and beautiful artwork.

[Nicole Sampson]

This was a good retelling of the classic story. It was shortened enough to keep my kids' interest and it cut out just enough, but it was long enough that it could've still been a chapter book. I wish there had been chapters to break it up some. The pictures were beautiful.

[Kevin Guarnotta]

Great intro for kids to the story. Wonderful Illustrations.
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