Who Rang that BELL!

(one of my favorite scenes from the 1939 movie, although it happens much differently in the book)

I just finished reading The Wizard of Oz to Fiona. it is a little past her reading level but I still think she enjoyed it as it put her to sleep and who doesn't love being whisked away to dreamland. The book is much different than the 1939 Warner Brothers version. However the movie was so remarkable for it's time and still an American classic that the story is known pretty much by the movies depiction. Here are a few differences...

• The ruby red slippers were not red at all, they were actually silver.


• In the emerald city everyone had to have green glasses locked to their heads by the keeper of the gate... they were told it was to shield their eyes from the brilliance of the city, but really it was so that everything would appear green to the people.


• The Wicked Witch of the West sent Wolves, Black Bees and Crows to attack Dorthy and her friends before the flying monkey's were unleashed.


• The Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz appeared to the group in different forms, a giant head, a beautiful young fairy, a burning ball of fire and a ferocious beast with multiple eyes and bigger than an elephant.


• There are other people in the land of OZ like the Winkies, the field mice, Boq the richest munchkin, the hammer heads, the China doll people and the Quadlings. (the Lion, Scarecrow and Tin woods Man all become kings in various parts of the country by the end of the book)


• And the book does not end with Dorothy appearing to have dreamed the whole thing up... it actually happened.

I started to wonder why no one has ever re-done the movie as stories like Alice in Wonderland have been made into like 6 different versions. I thought "Tim Burton should be enlisted for the task", turns out thanks to Google, someone already asked that questions and a new "darker" version is already in the works... Click here for details.

L. Frank Baum wrote 14 books in the Wizard of Oz series, I read them all in 6th grade because I have always had a fascination with the Wizard of OZ. It all started in 5th grade when my class did a musical production for our parents and "someone" was going to get to sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow as a solo. I tried out and didn't get the part (I was heartbroken) but continued to sing that song to my stuffed animals convinced that I could have done a better job... I am still working on getting over it.

Next Fiona and I are going to read Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. My friend Jenny gave me the 1463 page unabridged version and I figure what else am I going to do during my almost 8 hours of daily breastfeeding? Plus it is fun to read out loud to her and pretend that she cares but really in her mind she is thinking... Milk is good, milk is great, milk milk milk sleep sleep milk sleep (or something like that)


(this is her chillin in the car seat watching mommy blog)