I'm so happy to have finally read the original. It prompted a great discussion about the author - how one's biography gets complicated - at book club. ( )

How come i don't hear Joss Wheadon talking all the time about how the buffy series was obviously based on the Wizard of Oz? ( )

I can't believe I never read this before! It was super violent and strange, but I liked it. Sadly, it did not hold the attention of my 7yo who prefers the movie. We listened to the audiobook narrated by Brooke Shields and her narration wasn't my favorite. She gave a lot of characters very goofy voices. ( )

Completely written in Present simple, this book is indeed suitable for children at or right above Starters (pre-A1) level. The description on the cover uses way more tenses than the book itself. The story suffers a bit because of the simplicity, but most kids are already familiar with it anyway.

Beautifully illustrated, simple, with great activities at the end. Looking forward to using it with students at this level. ( )

Low rating on this one, because while it's a kids book, I'm reading it with a critical eye to all the weird plot holes. I get that it is an episodic story with each chapter having some kind of small but surmountable obstacle, but it just makes No Sense as a whole story.

I have an issue with 'it's okay to kill people if they are evil', and that definitely turns up more than once. And 'good people can be trusted with too much power, because they are good'. Although that latter one at least is followed up by the 'good' people doing small things with their too much power, and then handing the power on.

In terms of topics I think would need discussing with kids - one character is emotional about killing a small animal, and then turns around and has no qualms about killing two others. And isn't happy about the lion going off to find something to eat. I didn't notice any explicit bigotry, which is a surprise in a kids book of this era. ( )