Hello, hello, hello!

“Dorothy told the Witch all her story; how the cyclone had brough her to the Land of Oz, how she had found her companions, and of the wonderful adventures they had met with.” – The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum

I’m so glad you popped in for a visit! It’s raining today so to get a bit of a head start on this whole blogging business, I decided to do get my feet wet (pun!) with a Throwback Thursday and a Bonus Book this month. So let’s get started with our TBT, shall we? There are a lot of good reasons to celebrate children’s lit: maybe you have kids in your life and you want to be able to share some wonderful stories with them; maybe you’re a bit of a kid at heart yourself and you enjoy treating yourself to a blast from the past or exploring new books by children’s and young adult (YA) authors.

I feel the tug of nostalgia every time I pick up a book I loved as a kid, and I love being able to return to those characters and places with my own children. Really good children’s books hold their magic, even when we revisit them as adults. When I get sick, I still like to curl up in bed a reread a book from my childhood; somehow it always helps me feel better.

So, for my first ever TBT, I chose a classic, The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. It is a great fit for next month’s theme about thinking of old things in new ways. There is a lot to love about this book – the setting of Oz is magical and inspires so much imagination – Munchkins, an Emerald City, a Wicked Witch – what’s not to love? But beyond a great adventure story, what I like most about this book is how much of it feels like a metaphor for the lessons we learn in life. We all have those moments of feeling stuck in our own personal “great gray prairie” and imagination is what allows us to escape. Whether it is leaving Kansas to head down a yellow brick road or some sticky situation in our current lives – imagination is what allows us to reinvent and find a better way.

There were so many elements of this story that captured me as a child. I had the book on audio cassette(how’s that for a TBT?) and I listened to it over and over again. Dorothy was an average, everyday girl and yet she managed to free Oz from the Wicked Witch (and those horrible Flying Monkeys) and help her friends along the way. I still think of lessons I have learned from The Wizard of Oz: sometimes the great and terrible things we face really are just a little man behind a curtain and when we find the courage to confront them, we learn we are stronger than we thought. The journey is always, always easier when we go through life with our friends. Often we don’t appreciate how much we love home until we are forced to be away from it. And sometimes it turns out those winged monkeys we thought were so horrible were just actually under the enchantment of sorceress/princess who wasn’t very impressed with practical jokes. Okay, well maybe I haven’t found the real-life application for that bit just yet …

So, if you haven’t read The Wizard of Oz, or maybe you’ve only seen the movie (spolier alert: the shoe are silver, not ruby red) then it might be worth picking up for the next time you’re sick in bed with a bad cold. I hope you get a chance to curl up with a good book on this rainy Thursday and I’d love to hear about some of the classics you loved as a kid! Please post a comment or send me a message. Until next week, happy reading!