The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A beloved classic, and deservedly so. The movie is remarkably true to it (though the ruby slippers were originally silver, Oz was "the Great and Terrible", and some secondary incidents were left out of the film). Even the opening of the movie in black and white reflects the description of the colourless Kansas landscape which Baum begins with.
I can only assume, given the large number of deaths attributable to the heroes, that the author was being ironic in his introduction when he talked about how this wasn't a dark fairy tale full of violence like the traditional ones.
The message of the story is very much "the power is in you", which has become a cliched story trope and also a cliched self-development bromide. He does a better job of it than many of his imitators, though.
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