The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Week 17‘s book is The Wizard of Oz, which is the cutes thing you’ll ever read. Yes, I’m really in love with this. It is ridiculously likeable.

Title: The Wizard of Oz
By: L. Frank Baum
Pages: 143
Published by Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1993
First published 1900

When a huge cyclone transports the orphan Dorothy and her little dog Toto from Kansas to the Land of Oz, she fears that she will never see Aunt Em and Uncle Henry ever again.
But she meets the Munchkins, and they tell her to follow the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City where the Wonderful Wizard of Oz will grant any wish. On the way, she meets the brainless Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion. The four friends set off to seek their hearts’ desires, and in a series of action-packed adventures they encounter a deadly poppy field, fierce animals, flying monkeys, a wicked witch, a good witch, and the Mighty Oz himself.

***

Rating on Goodreads: (really liked it)

This is quite possibly the cutest thing I’ve ever read. For such a small book, it’s become a huge classic and it deserves a great review and stuff. I just don’t know what else to say.

What can I say? I like the story, I like the setting and I like the characters. It’s all cute and creative and imaginative. The plot is surprisingly well put together and for such a short book, it’s amazing the characters have actual personalities (mustnotbashbadbooks).

As this review is positive, you all know it’s gonna suck, so I’ll just finish by saying: give this a shot. It’s a two hour read, tops, and it’s well worth it. You’ll be very well entertained all the way through and age is no concern. If you’re a child or a child at heart, you’ll enjoy this very much.

Lille Virgil by Ole Lund Kierkegaard

Week 16 was probably not the week I read this book. Duhuhuhuhu. I really don’t remember. This review is a short one but it’s sincere. This book is so cute.

Title: Lille Virgil
By: Ole Lund Kierkegaard
Pages: 94
Published by Gyldendal, 2002
First published 1967

In a hen’s house in a small town lives Little Virgil with a one legged cock that wakes him up every morning. He is friends with Oskar and Carl Emil and along with them Little Virgil has many adventures. One is about a lonely stork, another about Carl Emil’s birthday party and a hidden treasure. But not only that – Little Virgil and his friends also meet a dragon with eight legs.

***

Rating on Goodreads: (really liked it)

If you’re a kid and you grew up in Denmark, odds are you either read Ole Lund Kirkegaard (or had them read to you) or watched some of the movies based on his books. It’s like a kid’s national treasure in good old Denmark and I quite liked reading it again.

‘Lille Virgil’ is a strange book, strange enough that kids are going to wet themselves laughing, and at the same time, it treats kids like they’re smart. I can imagine reading this to a kid and hear them laughing at the main characters’ ignorance – of course you, as a reader, even as a kid, knows they’re wrong and that’s a great experience for kids to have when they read a book.
It’s clever this way, but it’s also funny enough that it won’t feel like they’re being lectured.
That’s actually something kids’ books do ALL the time. Lecture kids: you need to treat your friends like this, lying is wrong, it’s important to share… that’s fine and dandy but it’s nice to know that there are also books like this, that are just around for fun. There is no aesop here – it’s about three silly boys hunting a dragon and building a house and drinking soda. Stuff that all kids do.

I imagine this is funnier to read with a kid because this kind of humour would appeal more to them than it would to an adult. I can only encourage parents to read it to their kids and even if you read it by yourself, as an adult, you’ll probably enjoy it. It is so cute.

[Edited for derpiness]