Wizard of Oz Week: The Muppet's Wizard of Oz

I rented The Muppet's Wizard of Oz, and I liked most of the music, although some of it was a little too much the kind of pop sound that mostly doesn't appeal to me. For some reason, this just struck me as strange:

Maybe because it was right at the beginning (the song, not the music video) and I hadn't really had a chance to get used to the way things were going. I did like most of the other music, although I didn't really feel like Ashanti was one of those singers who should try to branch out into acting.

I did like most of the casting, both the humans and the Muppets. Really, I can't think of any way they could have arranged the Muppets to be better matches. And I will say, overall, they stuck to the book better than the Judy Garland movie, aside from modernizing Dorothy's home and the non-Oz stuff. I really liked that it was never implied that she just bumped her head and had a crazy dream, which both the Judy Garland version and the Return to Oz movie do.

I think I might have missed out on something from not being younger or from expecting something, but in the end, Quentin Tarantino's cameo was my favorite part of the whole show.

Wizard of Oz Week: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - Marvel Classics

Yes, the picture needs to be that big. Because that is how much I love this version of L. Frank Baum's Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It is simply gorgeous.

The artwork is stunning and rich. This is one of the first versions I've read that actually made me want to go to Oz, so I could see in person what I was reading about.

As far as adaptations and twists go, this is not a retelling; it sticks very closely to the original story. I didn't pull out my original Oz book to check, but I don't think it's even abridged. Certainly everything I remembered reading was in the graphic novel, including the ending to the original story: the quest to read Glinda in the south of Oz, with the Hammer-Heads and the China doll village.

It's great to see the visualization of Baum's imagination (as it is often left out of movie versions; Dorothy's return from the Wicked Witch of the West is usually considered to be enough story.)

But it keeps going. That's right. And Eric Shanower and Skottie Young do the whole story justice.

I am certainly looking forward to their second installment, as they continue Baum's story with The Marvelous Land of Oz, which was released on October 30th.

The Rumpelstiltskin Problem by Vivian Vande Velde

Have you ever wondered about Rumpelstiltskin? What's up with that guy, anyway? Why does he WANT a baby? Why does the Miller make up such a blatant lie about his daughter? How dumb can the king be, to believe him? Why does the daughter agree to marry the king after he threatened to kill her?

Have you ever noticed how many PROBLEMS there are with this story?

Ms. Velde certainly did, and she set about to fix these problems, with six imaginative and hilarious retellings of the story.

This is an extremely quick read, and extremely entertaining. I hope you'll do yourself the favor of reading this book. My favorite versions of this story are always the ones where the Miller's Daughter runs off with Rumpelstiltskin. Velde may have a couple of those--and other fun variations, as well.

The Extra-Ordinary Princess by Carolyn Q. Ebbitt

The Extra-Ordinary Princess is Princess Amelia, youngest of four princesses and feeling very ordinary around her sisters' beauty and grace. However, when their parents die of the plague and her sisters are cursed by her evil uncle, it's up to Princess Amelia to find the extraordinary within herself and save her family.

This touches on themes of self-confidence and feminine empowerment, but I was really disappointed overall with this book (especially with the high reviews on amazon.com). The plot was all over the place, jumping around the chronology of the story to the point of distraction. The world-building felt very fluffy and anachronistic: while steampunk has proven that we don't have to have the same timeline of technology in all our stories, the umbrellas and telegraphs just felt out of place. The details seemed very American-fantasy, like the children playing jacks and hide-and-seek. The fantasy land that doesn't exist has a tutor teaching English and French.

I was bothered to the point of being unable to read through the book by the disorganization and inconsistencies in both plot and tone. While younger readers might not notice that so much, and younger girls might enjoy identifying with Amelia, a new "princess with moxie," I suppose, this one wasn't for me. I ended up skimming most of it, and then reading the last few chapters, which jumped around the chronology just as much as the beginning.

Overall... meh.

The Book of Lost Things by John Connelly

I was really hesitant to read this when I heard about it, because I am wary of books about children that claim to be for grown-ups. Not that that's a recipe for failure, by any means, but it made me set it aside, mentally, until it popped up again in my life in the form of my friend Annamarie.

Annamarie is not a BIG reader. She loves books about horses, and fairy tales where everything comes out okay in the end. I have recommended a lot to her; she had never returned the favor--until The Book of Lost Things. Which she insisted emphatically that I read. And dragged me to a bookstore, and bought it for me, and put it in my hands, and sat me down, and forced me to read the beginning so that I would be hooked and read it right away.

Which I did, nearly in one sitting. And oh my. What an excellent recommendation.

This is the story of David, a 12-year-old boy who's just lost his mother. When his father remarries and has another son, David retreats into his books and fairy tales, but gets much more drawn in than he expected.

And, oh, the references and rewritings. With many stories twisted into new shapes (including a Beauty and the Beast where the Beast is the woman--and the Beauty does not free her from her spell--and a Sleeping Beauty where the sleeper awakens every night and is more of a danger to the princes than any thorns ever were), David explores a new land where the greatest danger will be the ones he calls from his own imagination.

Try to figure out who the villain is before the reveal at the end. (Yeah, I totally did.)

This is now one of my favorites books. (I don't say that too often, do I???) Check it out!

I do recommend the paperback edition with the red cover, as there's a section of notes at the back of the book, with Connelly's thoughts on the fairy tales he used, as well as original versions of the tales.

AND

I know that I say "This is one of my new favorite books!" far too often, especially here where I am talking about my favorite kind of book. But I really want to back that up this time, with this exceptionally good book.

SO.

A GIVEAWAY!

Post a link back to this blog on your blog for 1 entry, or on twitter for 1 entry. (If you have multiple blogs you can have an entry for each blog you post on, but only one entry per blog.)

Be sure to put a comment on this entry so I can see your links!

I'll draw a random winner on Friday, December 3rd, and I'll send the winner a copy of The Book of Lost Things.