You might like to start with part one.

I don't often use the word 'delightful.' I worry about sounding like some sort of squealing sales clerk or, worse, a TV pundit, but sometimes there's no way around the right word. In brief, L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is, well, simply delightful.

Oh, it's not perfect, but every time I picked it up, it was a joy to read. I felt a lightness and a wonderful sense of comfort in joining in the latest adventure of Dorothy and company. The story moves along at a regular rhythm as the four heroes travel from one curious encounter to another. There is nothing particularly suspenseful about their run-ins with strange and wonderful creatures like the Winkies or the Hammer-Heads. Likewise, the four principals remain largely unchanged from beginning to end. Nevertheless, I was not disappointed or let down until the book was over.

I think what I enjoyed the most was the mixture of familiarity and unpredictability. Having grown up understanding the story through the lens of the 1939 movie, I knew there were certain things to expect. The main characters, Oz, the witches, the flying monkeys all existed for me before I even opened the book. There was a lot, however, which I didn't know and was surprised to read. The Wicked Witch of the West, for example, is far less imposing than her cinematic representation, and the Ruby Slippers are actually silver. None of the changes upset me and I think it is very possible to enjoy both the movie and the book, as long as you don't expect them to be the same.

The Wicked Witch of the West has little more to offer to the story than any of the other adventures the characters encounter. I suppose the main difference is that Dorothy is sent to kill the Witch, whereas she just happens to bump into the Kalidahs (creatures with the bodies of bears and heads of tigers). As for duration, however, the Witch lasts about as long as anyone else in the book before getting melted. Actually, the flying monkeys--who serve her, but not willingly and not forever--make more appearances through the second half of the book than the Witch. As for the titular wizard, he seems to be more or less consistent between versions of the story.

Oz, the great and terrible wizard, is just as over the top, just as bumbling, and just as much of a fraud in the book as he is in the movie. If anything, he has more of each quality in the book. One of the parts I loved most was when Dorothy and the boys finally make it to Oz's throne room. Rather than give one audience, he sees them individually, one day at a time. For each character, he shows himself as something different: a great head, a monster, a beautiful lady, and a ball of fire. With each meeting, he refuses their request until the Wicked Witch is dead. When they return, Oz is exposed as a goofy little man from Nebraska. In the scene which follows this discovery, I found one of the most interesting parts of the book.