OZ

As a follow-up to my last review on Mary Poppins, the OZ series is another series that had a huge impact on my love of reading growing up. The thing is (and this is a little embarrassing) (also, embarrassing that it's embarrassing) I didn't actually read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz until a few years ago. I saw the movie when I was a kid (who didn't?) and my mom read a few books of the series to me when I was a kid.  At the same bookstore (which by the by sadly closed down and is no longer) and as a post-Mary Poppins recovery, I picked up The Marvelous Land of Oz. So here's the deal. There were 14 books about Oz, and Dorothy is not a central character in all of them. Ozma of Oz doesn't even mostly take place in Oz - same goes for Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, The Road to Oz is on the way to Oz... and so on.  Baum builds an entire world - where Dorothy is a Princess of Oz, Santa shows up with Billina the Yellow Hen and the Gnome King tries to take over.   It's a fabulous series - do yourself a favour and pick it up - It's good for almost any age.

I have read the entire series, over several years. It's surprisingly (or I guess not) hard to find every book in the series. I think there are over 50 books in the series when all is said and done. Finding the original 14 can be hard enough, but trying to hit every book in the series can be a challenge I admittedly haven't been able to complete. But you should try.