This was quite the endeavor. But I managed to read 14 stories written in classic 1900s style in 7 months which I'm going to consider a feat. I probably could have finished it if 5-6 but since I was trying to read through them back to back I had to take weeks off to give my brain a break from the old language and the children's themes.

I think the stories themselves are lovely, and I especially loved reading the Author's Notes where Frank L. Baum actually took ideas from his readers who wrote him letters. It's not only a way to show how times were different then but it also just kind of makes your heart happy to think of some little boy or girl wanting a certain character written into a story, and low and behold they're written in.

I think for the time, and for the audience, these are great stories. They're interesting and adventurous and realistic (considering the use of magic throughout). I'm not typically one to read "adventure" or "fantasy" genres but I still enjoyed these stories. I will admit reading through character descriptions did get tedious, but again, I was reading these stories back to back whereas when they were being produced they were only being published once every few years! (Crazy to think about that as well!)