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INTERACTIONS * 1 HOUR * LEVEL 2

The Wonderful Author of Oz

Page 5

Reading for Enjoyment

Baum was a skilled writer and had a knack for describing settings, characters, and events with great detail. Many authors also possess this skill but Baum was great at doing it in an interesting way. His descriptive skills are particularly interesting to children.
Consider this excerpt from Chapter 1 of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz:
“When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see nothing but the great gray prairie on every side. Not a tree nor a house broke the broad sweep of flat country that reached to the edge of the sky in all directions. The sun had baked the plowed land into a gray mass, with little cracks running through it. Even the grass was not green, for the sun had burned the tops of the long blades until they were the same gray color to be seen everywhere. Once the house had been painted, but the sun blistered the paint and the rains washed it away, and now the house was as dull and gray as everything else."
The colors of the house and land around Dorothy are easy to picture which allows children to build the scene. The story also moves quickly which appeals to young audiences. They are able to track the events with interest and follow the story to a resolution sooner rather than later. 
Consider this excerpt from Chapter 2 of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz:
“The cyclone had set the house down very gently—for a cyclone—in the midst of a country of marvelous beauty. There were lovely patches of greensward all about, with stately trees bearing rich and luscious fruits. Banks of gorgeous flowers were on every hand, and birds with rare and brilliant plumage sang and fluttered in the trees and bushes. A little way off was a small brook, rushing and sparkling along between green banks, and murmuring in a voice very grateful to a little girl who had lived so long on the dry, gray prairies.”
In comparison to the first excerpt there are still vivid descriptions but already Dorothy and Toto have landed in a new place. This new place invites the reader in with features that are nearly opposite of Dorothy’s home in Kansas. There are colorful animals, landforms, and flora present that are now holding the reader’s interest and imagination.