Okay, so I've pretty much told the main story of how I was introduced to Oz. But there are still quite a few facts about how I got into Oz that would have been too long to fit in my (already very long) article. There are quite a few things that happened before I was to read the full book, and the first of these was finding a coloring book.
It happened a few weeks after Mom had gotten the unabridged version of the book out of the shed. I was excited at first, but after I found out that the book didn't have any pictures, I put it down and didn't really want to read it. Even though I could read back then, I read really slowly, because I had to sound out the words. So reading a book that long would be quite difficult. I had just wanted to look at pictures, but the book didn't have any, so I was disappointed.
It happened a few weeks after this that we went to a yard sale. The people at the yard sale were selling coloring books. Among these coloring books was a "Wizard of Oz" color-by-number book. It was VERY old. Supposedly, it was printed in the nineteen-thirties, but I've never found out if that's true or not (and there's no date in the book to check).
Mom bought most of the coloring books there, including "The Wizard of Oz." I was really excited because it meant that I would have pictures to look at.
These pictures were, in fact, the second time I had seen pictures for the story, the first time being the abridged version that had been read to me. Some of the pictures were already colored in, but most of them weren't. But they all are now. I still have the book, and all the pages are now colored in. The book is also falling apart, but that doesn't bother me much.<br />
And while I did enjoy the coloring book at the time, I think it's a very poor adaptation if the story now.
First of all, all of the text for the story is crammed on the first page. Then the pictures come after the story. I think this is a very poor publishing desision. First of all, most little kids can't read, which means their parents have to read it to them. And what a pain it is for parents to read the entire story without pictures for them! Then, after the story, the parents have to go through the trouble helping their kids figureout how the pictures corespond with the story, and what parts they are illustrating. It would have just been easier to have the text be divided throughout the book evenly, going under the pictures that the text illustrated. Putting all the text at the very beginning is just lazy publishing.
Second, while for the most part the text and the story both tell the same version of the story, there are a few inconsistencies that bothered me even as a kid. I'll get to those soon.
And then the story is a mess. The text begins by saying that Dorothy lives with her Aunt Em. Uncle Henry is never mentioned, and never appears in the pictures, so I'm going to assume that Aunt Em is a widow in this version. It says that a cyclone appears while she's playing with Toto, which is the first illustration in the book.
The illustration shows Dorothy, with Toto in her arms, running away from the cyclone. The numbers tell the colored to color Dorothy blonde (I'd prefer brown, but it's okay), and to color the cyclone purple. That's just weird.
I says that Dorothy runs into a nearby house. So apparently, Dorothy doesn't go into her own house in this one. The picture shows the woman the house belongs to running across the grass, watching her house being carried away by the cyclone.
The next picture shows Dorothy sitting on the floor of the house. The bed is tipped over on its side, and pots and pans are flying all over the room. Dorothy looks frightened in the picture.
The fact that the house lands on the Wicked Witch of the East is cut completely. It may have been to soften the story for kids, but come on! Kids don't mind an evil character dying! The Silver Shoes also don't appear in the story until later, which I'll talk about when I get to that point.
The picture shows two funny people walking up to Dorothy. One of them is the Good Witch of the North (dressed in yellow and orange) and the other is a Munchkin. The Munchkin wears a purple shirt with green shoes and hat, without an inch of blue on him! Did the people who made this book decide that several different colors were somehow easier for kids to understand than just the one color blue?
The text says that the Munchkins tell Dorothy she can get back home by following the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City. But all the pictures only have one Munchkin. The other character is the Good Witch of the North! The Good Witch of the North isn't supposed to be a Munchkin! In fact the text never mentions the Good Witch of the North, it just mentions the Munchkins! This is an inconsistency!
The text calls the city "The Emerald City," but I like to call the city in the illustrations "The Color-Changing City." You'll see why in a little bit.
Dorothy has the read dress with polka dots on it, and never changes into any other dress, not even the gingham one. This takes away from the symbolism in the story. Blue is the color of the Munchkins, and white is the witch color, so Dorothy should at least have the gingham dress at one point in the story.
Dorothy meets the Scarecrow, but the text never talks about him being up on a pole, and the picture shows him sitting on the fence when Dorothy first meets him. Also, he is a bunch of different colors, none of which are blue.
Then the tin woodman. I didn't capitalize that because it isn't capitalized in the text of this book. And either the tin woodman in this version is retired or there's another inconsistency, because the tin woodman in the illustrations has no axe in the entire book! Also the numbers tell you to color him blue!
And then the Lion. This part actually goes accurately in this version, so I won't talk about it.
Then we cut instantly to them arriving at the Color-Changing City, completely cutting out the parts where the companions show to the reader that they had what they wanted all along (though apparently in this version, they really DO lack those things, but I'll get to that later)!
The city first appears with the tin woodman pointing at it from far away. The city is black in the picture.
Then, when it shows them knocking on the gate, the city is red.
Then, in the next picture, where the gate is open and the guard is talking to them, the city is yellow!
Also, the guard wears clothes that are multicolored. None of the colors are green.
So basically, what is called the "Emerald City" in the text never appears green at all!
The friends all see the Wizard at the same time, and he is an actual man in a wizard costume, complete with the stereotypical stars and moons on his robe!
He tells them to destroy his enemy, "The Wicked Witch of the West." But since she's the only witch apparently in the story, why couldn't the text simply call her, "The Wicked Witch?"
The picture shows the Wizard pointing at a picture of the Witch that has been crossed out.
The Witch sees the friends through what appears to be a magic telescope in this version, and immediately sends her Winged Monkeys to capture them.
The Winged Monkeys take ALL of them to the Witch's castle. The Witch throws them all in the dungeon except Dorothy, who she makes a slave for no apparent reason.
Since Dorothy doesn't have the Silver Shoes in this version, Dorothy throws the water on the Witch after the Witch hits Toto with her staff for biting her.
And guess what? We get the first appearance of the magic shoes! They belonged to the West Witch in this version!
The text says "silver shoes," but the numbers on the pictures say to color them green!
Dorothy puts on the shoes, rescues her friends, and returns to the Color-Changing City.
The Wizard apparently really was a Wizard in this version, because he gives the Scarecrow and the tin woodman what they want. He gives the Scarecrow a box of brains, and pins a red heart on the tin woodman. But to the Lion he gives "a medal for his bravery." Um.... I don't remember the Lion doing anything brave in this version, do you?
So apparently, only the Lion had what he wanted all along in this version! Even Dorothy didn't have her means to get home all along, since she got the magic shoes recently!
The Wizard himself knows about the power of the shoes, so I guess his reasoning for having them kill the Witch in this version (though it's not stated in the text) was so they could retrieve the items that would take Dorothy home.
The text just says that Dorothy returns home. The picture shows Dorothy waking up in bed. So apparently, it was all a dream in this version!
Ugh, this book is a disaster! While I enjoyed coloring it as a kid, it really cuts most of the fun and meaning out of the story, and I full of inconsistencies!
More posts coming soon!
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