Fantasy · Children
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
A cyclone carries Dorothy to the land of Oz, and the only way home is along the yellow brick road.
Five levels, about 80 languages
- A2ElementaryShort sentences and everyday words.
- B1IntermediateYou follow clear stories about familiar things.
- B2Upper intermediateLonger sentences, richer vocabulary.
- C1AdvancedClose to the original, lightly condensed.
- C2ProficientThe complete novel.
One purchase is one book, in one language, at one level: $4.99. Another level of a book you own is $1.99. Editions nobody has asked for yet are written on request: chapter 1 in a few minutes, the rest while you read. How the levels work.
About the book
From Kansas to the Emerald City
Dorothy lives on the gray Kansas prairie with her Aunt Em, her Uncle Henry and her little dog, Toto. A cyclone lifts their house into the air and drops it in a bright, strange country, right on top of the Wicked Witch of the East. The grateful Munchkins give Dorothy the witch’s silver shoes, and the Good Witch of the North tells her that only the great Wizard of Oz can send her home. On the yellow brick road to the Emerald City she meets a Scarecrow who wants brains, a Tin Woodman who wants a heart and a Cowardly Lion who wants courage. L. Frank Baum published it in 1900 and went on to write thirteen more Oz books.
Why it works for learners
Baum set out to write a modern fairy tale, and his style is direct and friendly: short sentences, simple words, clear feelings. The story is a series of adventures on the road, each a small problem the friends solve together: a river, a field of poppies, a forest of fighting trees. The vocabulary is colorful in every sense: colors, animals, the body, feelings, magic and travel.
If you know the 1939 film, you’ll find differences. Dorothy’s shoes are silver, not ruby, and the book has more adventures than the film had time for.
Which level to start at
A2 is ideal. It’s one of the best first novels in the catalog, and the narration, with its own voice for each of Dorothy’s companions, makes it easy to follow by ear. B1 adds more of Baum’s humor. Readers at B2 and up will notice how much gentle comedy there is in the Wizard and his city.
Read next
- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the other great girl-in-a-strange-land story
- Peter Pan, a flight to the Neverland
- The Princess and the Goblin, a gentle fantasy from a generation earlier