ALL THINGS OZ

We began a wonderful journey to Oz. The wife brought a copy of The Wizard of Oz home from the library. The wife and the child read the book a chapter at a time during the day and before bed. The child was enamored with the adventures of Dorothy Gale and her Oz companions—the scarecrow, the tin woodman, the cowardly lion, the Munchkins, the witches, and the wizard. She was equally intrigued by the power of the cyclone that carries Dorothy to Oz, especially with Cyclone Nargis and its destructive path through Myanmar in recent headlines. Oz fueled our imaginations and mirrored pieces of "our world."


"They now came upon more and more of the big scarlet poppies, and fewer and fewer of the other flowers; and soon they found themselves in the midst of a great meadow of poppies. Now it is well known that when there are many of these flowers together their odor is so powerful that anyone who breathes it falls asleep, and if the sleeper is not carried away from the scent of the flowers he sleeps on and on forever."
—page 38, The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger

We encountered "elements" of Oz wherever we looked, perhaps due to heightened senses, perhaps due to synchronicity. Cyclones and tornadoes made the evening news. We passed poppies as we walked through the residential streets of Puyallup. We noticed scarecrows in neighborhood gardens that we had not noticed prior. The world of Oz not only mirrored "our world" but had seeped into it.


"Yes; I'm rather surprised at my head, myself," replied the Tin Woodman, thoughtfully. "I thought I had a more pleasant disposition when I was made of meat."
—page 216, The Tin Woodman of Oz by L. Frank Baum, illustrated by John R. Neill

The next book we checked out from the library was The Tin Woodman of Oz. It is much later in the series, being book number twelve. The Tin Woodman from the first book is now Emperor of the Winkies and searching for the Munchkin he loved when he was still flesh and blood. It is a rather dark and strange tale and we all enjoyed it immensely.


"I'm obsessed with books. I'm happy with books. I'm happy with books!"
—The Child

The child is obsessed with books, so why would we have her watch adaptations of the story? Mostly to let her make connections to narrative threads and elements of a story that she deeply loved. So the child viewed Veggie Tales The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's: The Story of a Prodigal Son and The Muppets' Wizard of Oz. The child enjoyed both.


"The angel and I watched The Wizard of Oz together on television last night and the scene at the gates of Oz reminded me of when Joshua and I were at the monastery gate."
—page 189, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore

The wife and I also had opportunities to have Oz enter "our world." In Lamb, which I am reading, Biff and the angel Raziel watch The Wizard of Oz in their hotel room. Of course, true to Biff's nature, he parodies the movie with his trademark lowbrow humor. We also watched the short film Death to the Tinman, directed by Ray Tintori. It is an excellent contemporized distillation of The Tin Woodman of Oz, complete with socialist economics, fundamentalist Christianity, an angry mob of unappreciated firemen, and a wonderfully ugly tinman. It is well worth seeking out.


Finally, a family friend loaned us the commemorative pop-up version of The Wizard of Oz, with lavish and intricate paper engineering works of art by Robert Sabuda. It was fun to see elements of the story recreated in three dimensions.

We continue to catch glimpses of Oz in "our world," even if only briefly or in dreams. The child keeps reminding us that some things happen in "our world" or "this world" and some things happen in "other worlds" or "that world" or "those worlds." Indeed they do.