Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

classic books

There’s a book for that: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

I don’t remember my first impressions of the movie The Wizard of Oz, although I do remember thinking Judy Garland singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” was boring. (I had no idea her birthday was this week when I scheduled this post. No offense to the Judy Garland fans out there!) And that the movie overall was kind of, well, weird. I wouldn’t list it among my favorites, although I LOVED the theatrical production of Wicked (not so much the book it was based on).

So, I was happy to discover that the weirdness of The Wizard of Oz was there from the start in L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. (FYI, the edition pictured is not what I read. It’s from the Library of Congress Web site, so it’s probably a rare book.  Mine was free for the Kindle.)

As with Mary Poppins, I was impressed by the creativity of the author to dream up things like a talking scarecrow, a tin man and a cowardly lion along with the adventures and dangers they face on the way to the Emerald City. Not everything in the movie is as it is in the book, but I’m okay with that. I was only a little disappointed that the ruby slippers weren’t ruby. Maybe ruby looked better on film than silver? I think overall, I have a new appreciation for the books that inspired movies we now consider classic.

I’ve yet to read any other of Baum’s Oz books or other works. Have you read them? What do you think?

I think I missed out on a lot of good children’s and young adult literature as a kid — and I was (still am) an avid reader! I’m enjoying the journey back to rediscover what I missed.

What’s your favorite book from childhood/young adulthood?

NEXT WEEK: Memoirs of an English Governess at the Siamese Court (the King and I).

There’s a book for that: Mary Poppins

A couple of months ago, our 4-year-old got to watch Mary Poppins for the first time. We decided after our trip to Disney, we needed to give her more opportunities to watch the movies we loved as kids. (No pressure to like them, right? I can’t wait to find out how she likes Pete’s Dragon.) So, her reward for having accident-free weeks potty-wise is her choice of Disney movie for a movie night. (Don’t worry, we’re borrowing them from the library. Our budget doesn’t include a line item for unlimited Disney movies. Wouldn’t that be nice!) One of her first picks was Mary Poppins.

Isabelle got to meet her at Disney.

They talked hats, an appropriate subject among ladies.

I’m pleased to say she loved every minute of the movie.

I, on the other hand, was shocked to discover that Mary Poppins had a life before Walt Disney. The movie is based on books written by P.L. Travers. A book, you say? It was almost all I could think about while we watched the movie. My husband dutifully googled the author and we learned a little bit about her and her dislike for the movie adaptation. (Reportedly, this is the basis for another movie, called Saving Mr. Banks, starring Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson. I’m in.)

Making blockbuster movies from bestselling novels is commonplace in the movie industry these days. It’s unusual, at least among the movies I watch, to find a movie written by a team of screenwriters and not “based on the book by …” I guess I didn’t think about this happening in the earlier days of film.

Needless to say, I went to the library soon after we watched the movie and checked out Mary Poppins, the book, by P.L. Travers.

I sort of loved it.

I mean, it’s different. Mary Poppins the character isn’t as likable in the book as she is in the movie, but the stories, especially the ones that didn’t make the movie, are entertaining and enjoyable. Maybe what I liked best about the book is that the things that make Walt Disney’s Mary Poppins so great — like Uncle Albert’s laughing fit or Mary Poppins arriving on an East Wind — were Travers’ idea first. I thought Walt Disney was the creative genius. And he was, in a sense, making it come to life on film. But as a writer, I appreciate the writer behind the on-screen creativity.

So, that made me wonder what other treasures I’d find in the books that became movies we love. Come back on Fridays this month (June) for the series “There’s a book for that.” Next week, The Princess Bride.

FROM ONE MARY TO ANOTHER: Last week, as the finale to Free Book Fridays in May, I offered Unveiling Mary Magdalene by Liz Curtis Higgs. And the winner is: Ladette Kerr! Ladette is a two-time winner for Free Book Fridays. Congratulations! I’ll have your books in the mail in the next couple of days.