Children's Books

Unfortunate events was very good, even if it did want to marry a dictionary.

Oh I liked those books, I should reread them now that I understand more of the references. But yes feeling the need to define words kids would already know was annoying. Though vaguely amusing when it really did mean something different in the context of the book, and some of the examples were funny.

edited 2nd Oct '13 8:11:37 PM by phantom1

So, after seeing Wicked the other day, down in good ol' Minneapolis, I've started reading The Wizard Of Oz. (I already red the book version of Wicked years ago.) It's... interesting. See, by this point, I've seen two adaptions of the Oz books, aside from Wicked; the 1939 film, (duh,) and Return To Oz, and I have to say, the book is so far much more like Return. (Which I thought was going to be the case.) Whereas the 1939 film practically nods&winks everywhere you go, and hardly ever takes itself seriously, the same can't be said of Return, or the book.

All that said, I can't say too much because I'm still not that far in; I just got to where Tinman stepped on a beetle, after the Lion came aboard. I like that the companions have more info on their backstories compared to the film, and that Dorothy is more like her Return self; very practical, as opposed to the less grounded 1939 film version of her. But, the dialogue in the book's kind of stilted; there are hardly any real contractions to be found, and there's other problems too. You can still read it decently enough, but I'm betting that no adaptation of Oz has ever taken the original book script word-for-word, and I think I can see why; it just wouldn't work when said as is.

I'll post here again when I've finished the book, and if I like it, who knows? Maybe I'll go read the rest of the books.

edited 12th Oct '13 6:31:24 AM by kkhohoho

I actually found like the 17th or so Oz book through an internet search a decade ago. It was very surprising to find that Oz was a long-running series.

I liked Return to Oz. I was very surprised by it when I saw it as a kid.

One of these days, I will pick up a print version of The Wizard of Oz and try it out. I've only seen the film; I haven't even seen Return to Oz. I've actually come across a very fancy annotated version of the first Oz book, and that might be the one I'll read.

Keep in mind, that was the writing style at the time.

And the rest of the Oz series gets more and more random and inconsistent. My favorite character is Polychrome.

To be clear, each individual book is most internally consistent, it's when they're all put together that Oz makes no damn sense.

edited 11th Oct '13 4:44:40 PM by Zendervai

Not Three Laws compliant.

Dorothy gets an accent in the later books and it's adorable.

The Protomen enhanced my life.

Finished the Wizard of Oz. It was alright; to be sure, it was leagues different from the 1939 movie, but I think I still liked this one better then the film. What I think makes the book good are the simple, yet incredibly likeable characters, and the wonderful land (no pun intended,) that the characters travel through. I have to say, Baum's imagination must have been firing on all cylinders when writing this book, and I can only right now think of just what other crazy stuff he cooked up in the later Oz books. Which I now intend to read.

That's not say that the book wasn't without it's problems. You'd think that someone as smart as the Scarecrow could be at times could figure out just what the Wizard was doing when he put bran in his cloth noggin, or that he'd figured to be patient and observe the hammerheads first before practically rushing in. And yet, at other times, he can be pretty clever. It's like, half the time, his brains (both his 'bran' brains, as well as in a metaphorical sense for when he didn't have those,) were on, and the other half, they must have gotten hit by the Idiot Ball. Which is kind of iffy for me, seeing as how the Tinman's character is consistent the whole way through. I'm also pretty sure that what the Wizard gives the Lion is booze, and so you'd think it'd wear off by next morning. Oz must have given the poor guy a stash or something. And finally, there's the Wicked Witch. She's supposed to be this great iconic character, but looking at both this and the movie, I can safely say that I only really care for her Wicked selves, because she's a pretty one-note and uninteresting villain in both versions of the original story. Heck, in the book, her death wasn't even all that climatic.

Still, in the end, it was still a good, fun book, and an easy read to boot, and I fully intend to check out the other Oz books, and see what else there is of Oz to discover.

edited 16th Oct '13 8:58:14 PM by kkhohoho

One thing the book does that is way better than the movie is that Glinda and the Good Witch of the North are two different people. The movie manages to make "Glinda" either really stupid and oblivious or actively malicious.

Not Three Laws compliant.

Finished Marvelous Land of Oz. I think I liked it even more than the first one. The character's were still simple, but still also incredibly likeable, though I think the biggest improvement was the plot. ...To an extent. See, whereas Wizard of Oz was really just about Dorothy and Co's loose series of adventures in Oz, tied together by Dorothy trying to get home, Marvelous is about one thing, and one thing only; taking back the throne from Jinjur, Mombi, and the Army of Revolt. ...Which also leads us into one of the kinda-sorta' problems of Marvelous. The whole Army of Revolt was one big satire of women, with the idea being that women were gossipy scatterbrains who couldn't fight worth a darn, but still wanted equal rights despite that, and that men couldn't clean house even if they wanted to. That said, it also satirizes war, because the Army of Revolt can't fight a darn, and also because the 'Army of Oz' is just a senile old man who can't even bother to reload his gun properly.

However, the plot is still more centered then Wizard's, and thus more enjoyable. It's also got some good laughs in there, in part due to the satirizing that goes on in it, but it also has a decent climax, at least when compared to the first book. In the first book, the Wicked Witch of the West was killed because... she pissed Dorothy and then got splashed with water, and nothing else was really going on at the time. And then they see the wizard, and after that go on another, shorter journey that isn't really all that climatic either. Whereas in Marvelous, that book's witch meets her defeat in an epic chase, which then leads to a huge plot-twist, followed by Mombi being forced not to use magic again. Followed right by taking the city back. Still not exactly 'epic', by any means, but definitely a step up from the ending's of the first book.

The only other problem's I have are with Jack and Wogglebug. Oh, they're likeable enough characters, sure, but they didn't do anything. Tip's practical, (and Ozma,) Scarecrow's The Smart Guy when he needs to be, Tin Man's levelheaded and the resident Bad Ass, and Saw Horse is the trusty steed. And Dorothy and Lion had their fair share of good moments in the first book too. Heck, even Glinda has her chance to shine. And yet, Jack and Wogglebug don't really do much; hardly any more than Toto. Sure, Wogglebug found the Gump-head and made the wish that restored the Gump, but Baum could easily just have had anyone else in the group do those things. It wasn't something that only Wogglebug could have done. And Jack; Jack really just sits around and comments on everything like the fool (but a loveable fool,) he is. I guess they're supposed to be the comic relief's, (and they did give some giggles,) but Scarecrow could be funny at times too, and he still proved his worth. Really, all Jack seemed to be good for, in terms of the plot, was life as Mr. Exposition.

But, all of that said, I still rather enjoyed the book, and I look forward to the next one.

edited 19th Oct '13 10:45:20 AM by kkhohoho

Army of Revolt is one of those annoying types of Values Dissonance things I don't like to see in older works. A Little Nemo comic had a random rant about women's suffrage (a talking hippo tells Nemo not to make a female hippo able to talk or else she'll "talk you deaf, dumb and blind about women's suffrage"). And The Outbursts of Everett True had some rants about "race suicide" and "one of those women who stays up at night giving women's rights speeches".

edited 19th Oct '13 6:41:51 AM by BonsaiForest

Started reading of Ozma of Oz, and right on page 31, there's some more of that good ol' Values Dissonance you talked about.

---

"I beg your pardon, I'm sure Mrs.—Mrs.—by the way, may I inquire your name, ma'am?" asked the little girl.

"My name is Bill," said the yellow hen, somewhat gruffly.

"Bill! Why, that's a boy's name."

"What difference does that make?"

"You're a lady hen, aren't you?"

"Of course. But when I was first hatched out no one could tell whether I was going to be a hen or a rooster; so the little boy at the farm where I was born called me Bill, and made a pet of me because I was the only yellow chicken in the whole brood. When I grew up, and he found that I didn't crow and fight, as all the roosters do, he did not think to change my name, and every creature in the barn-yard, as well as the people in the house, knew me as 'Bill.' So Bill I've always been called, and Bill is my name."

"But it's all wrong, you know," declared Dorothy, earnestly; "and, if you don't mind, I shall call you 'Billina.' Putting the 'eena' on the end makes it a girl's name, you see."

edited 19th Oct '13 10:36:16 AM by kkhohoho

That's not so bad though, I think. It's not talking about people's rights.

I remember two somewhat obscure books from the 80s that are still pretty enjoyable, Chicken Trek and It's New, It's Improved, It's Horrible. The first one (about a cross-country chicken eating contest) has lots of enjoyable quirky humor and imagination (ie, the characters travel around in a pickle-shaped car) while the second (about a kid who lived in a world of tv commercials who's unwittingly sent into "our" world) is a great satire on commercials and commercial tropes that is still relevant to this day.

edited 23rd Oct '13 12:21:46 PM by Hadley

I read YA almost exclusively. But I justify it by the fact that I'm trying to write a YA fantasy novel.

Got a degree in Emotional trauma via fictional characters aka creative writing. hosting S'mores party in Hell for fellow (evil) writers

I've been rereading a lot of kid's books, and some new ones, because I mean ECCE, though apart from the old classics I'm sure you would find them quite dull since they are all for preschoolers but yeah getting to reread Robert Munsch and Dr.Suess books, and I like looking at all the pictures.

I still read kids' books to this very day and there are many kids' books that have intelligent humor like most of Mo Willems' works, with my favorites being his "Knuffle Bunny" series.

I also loved Henrik Drescher's works since I'm into Surreal Humor and that's a big thing that appears in his works. Some of my favorite books by him are Simon's Book, Pat the Beastie, The Fool and the Flying Ship and Love the Beastie.

I love animation, TV, movies, YOU NAME IT!

Have any of you guys heard of Robert D. San Souci, folklorist and children's book author? He also wrote the story for Disney's Western Animation/Mulan. Some of my favorite books of his were the "Dare To Be Scared" series.

"I am the lord of Purity, who tolerates no deviation." My first online story

I have just reread the Prydain Chronicles and I have to say that they in my opinion are still some of the absolute best fantasy books out there.

Dunk the lunk, thick as a castle wall.

Oh yeah! I've read many of Robert D. San Souci's works! I didn't know he wrote the story for Mulan! Anyway, some of my favorite works by him were The Talking Eggs, Cinderella Skeleton and The Faithful Friend!

I love animation, TV, movies, YOU NAME IT!

I'm rereading the Rowan Of Rin series right now. It's been 10 years at least and I remember just enough to make me feel really clever for 'figuring out' the riddles/prophecies.

Got a degree in Emotional trauma via fictional characters aka creative writing. hosting S'mores party in Hell for fellow (evil) writers

Pratchett's Tiffany Aching books, and 'Keys to the Kingdom' by Garth Nix.

Got Bored of Potter. I might finish the series one day, if only for completeness.

I bought Harriet the Spy. After I had a sudden revelation that this classic is about an Aspie, written by someone who's likely on the spectrum and writing about what feels natural to her, I became more interested and decided to give the book another look. Previously, I'd only glanced at it, but I read the first chapter last night.

Wow. Harriet is blunt, wants to completely control the rules of the game she plays with Sport (a game which she made up herself, called "Town"), and she even interprets a comment Sport makes literally: "You must have a hundred notebooks." "I have fifteen. I've been doing this since I was eight, and now I'm eleven. I can't possibly have a hundred notebooks." Not only was that very literal, but she even did the math to prove her point. Not to mention her perfect recall of the exact number.

Aspie? As an actual diagnosed autistic with an Aspiedar that I believe works very well, I'm thinking yes.

Unfortunately, information on the author, Louise Fitzhugh, is nearly impossible to get ahold of. Her parents were divorced (a theme that shows up a lot in her works is selfish divorced parents), she was a butch lesbian who was nicknamed "Willie", and the most common photo I can find of her has her staring into the camera in a sort of "I have no idea what expression my face is making" kind of way that's common to people on the spectrum.

Circumstantial evidence, all of it, but I still have ~13 more chapters to go.

edited 11th Mar '14 10:22:30 AM by BonsaiForest

Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm A Supervillain sounds really interesting. :D Esp. love the title.

edited 30th May '14 2:14:14 PM by CassidyTheDevil

I have a friend who's in their 20s yet claims that Wayside School is still his favorite series.

Also still trying to read Silverwing but I keep getting distracted. Only been carrying it around for two years without reading.