The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

By: L. Frank Baum

Narrated by: Charles Hubbell

Length: 4 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's Summary

When Dorothy and her little dog Toto are caught in a tornado, they and their Kansas farmhouse are suddenly transported to Oz, where Munchkins live, monkeys fly and Wicked Witches rule. Desperate to return home, and with the Wicked Witch of the West on their trail, Dorothy and Toto - together with new friends the Tin Woodsman, Scarecrow and cowardly Lion - embark on a fantastic quest along the Yellow Brick Road in search of the Emerald City. There they hope to meet the legendary, all-powerful Wizard of Oz, who alone may hold the power to grant their every wish.

©2019 L. Frank Baum (P)2019 Page2Page

A classic telling of a classic

I have seen the movie many times, it was one of those films that played every Christmas in my youth and I never tired of it. In my teens I even saw the sequel Return to Oz on the cinema, and though I thought it was a very different experience to the original classic, I enjoyed that too.

Many times I have watched both, but I have never read the books on which they are based, and I had no special desire to do so.

I know, that’s a scandalous statement, but unfortunately a true one; but while I was scrolling through Audible I noticed an audiobook that contained all fourteen books for a very good price, I considered it, listened to a sample, and then decided not to purchase.

The narrator just didn't "do it" for me, so I continued scrolling until I came across another audiobook, this time of the first book in the series only, and clicked the sample button.

The narrator, Charles Hubbell, makes the story for me. Of course the tale itself is as wonderful as, well, as wizard, but the real wizard is the narrator in such a tale. Balancing the fairy-tale quality for a broad audience as well as managing to perform many, some extremely unusual, characters is no mean feat.

Thankfully Charles Hubbell, in my opinion, seems quite up for the task.

I had never read this book before, and one of the reason - I think - for that is that the 1939 movie is just such a hard act to follow that I feared the book would be a disappointment. Perhaps I thought, like many very old books that are considered classic, I would simply find them more academically interesting than actually entertaining. Which, for me, would be the most awful thing for such a story, one that had followed me right from my earliest memories to this very day.

Thankfully I was in fine hands, well, vocal chords.

The story itself is very like the movie made from it, at least the first thirds of the book is similar to the movie. Many moments are combined and aesthetic changes were made, but the spirit remains untouched, and I am so thankful for that.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is an amazingly quick read that manages to be equally entertaining to me now, as an old man, as it was to me as a child sitting in front of the TV at Christmas. I did not find any deep meanings hidden from a child’s view, nothing that struck me a revelatory as an adult, but none of that mattered. It’s a fulfilling and entertaining tale unlike any other, and it seems to me, it is as worthy as a fantasy classic as any book I have ever read.

As for the equally wonderful Charles Hubbell?

I'm thankful he has done many of the stories in the series, but I'm also saddened that he has not - as yet - done all of them.

Purchasing them singularly, all fourteen titles, may turn out to be more expensive than that bumper back off all title, but I'm certainly glad I took this route to experiencing these classic books.

Now I'm off to download the second book in the series, The Marvellous Land of Oz - also narrated by Charles Hubbell - and I'm expecting to have a very fine time listening to it.

Great narration of a wonderful book

My hard of hearing 5 year old loves this clear and measured narration. It's such a rich story, that hardly dates as well, so we're very happy with the whole package.