Sylvia Bortin Patience

This cute retelling of The Wizard of Oz fills in some of the story holes children of today would find odd, and gives us a new perspective on an old favorite.

What drew me to this book: I enjoy retellings, especially of classic fairy tales. I love seeing how fantastical elements of the story are explained or changed in clever ways. So I was eager to see how Ms. Patience retold The Wizard of Oz from Toto’s perspective.

Why I kept reading: It’s been a very long time since I’ve read the original The Wizard of Oz. Since Toto’s Tale is based on the original story, not the movie or Wicked, there were many elements I had forgotten — such as the Queen of the Field Mice, Dorthy’s golden cap, the little china people, and the trip to Glinda’s realm. It was fun to revisit some of these details.

Ms. Patience also added in some elements that weren’t in the book, but make a lot more sense to today’s readers. For example, why did Dorthy live with an aunt and uncle? Where are her parents? Ms. Patience explains that Dorthy is an orphan who comes to Kansas on the orphan train. Henry and Em take her home, and she calls them Aunt and Uncle rather than Mother and Father.

And, of course, having Toto’s perspective is a lot of fun. We learn how Toto comes to live with Dorothy, who really discovered that the Wicked Witch would melt when wet, what gift Toto receives from the Wizard, and why Dorothy misses going back to Kansas in the Wizard’s balloon.

While I enjoyed this retelling quite a lot, I also found myself wondering why one would choose to read this book rather than reading the original. They are written at the same grade level, seem to be roughly the same length, and they tell mostly the same story. The differences between this story and the original are cute, but not major or particularly revealing. Read as a companion to the original, it might feel a tad redundant.

Why I recommend it: Regardless, I enjoyed reading Toto’s Tale. It served as a great refresher for me since I hadn’t read the original in a while, and seeing the story from Toto’s perspective is cute. I adore that the look of and illustrations in the book come from the original; it makes a nice tie into the L. Frank Baum world. This is a fun choice for animal lovers, collectors of all things Oz, or children obsessed with the original story.… (mehr)

I picked up this story to get a start on it and I was unable to put it down until I was finished with it. It is, to me, better than the original 1930 one. This is based on that book and not the movie that was on tv every year. This is Toto's recounting of the story. It is sad that so often he tried to get his message across but no one would pay enough attention to him. Don't expect Dorothy to wake up in bed and say, "and you were in it! And you were in it!"

Some of my most unforgettable moments were: poor Toto, the puppy, was going to be drown in a trough, and ran away to find Dorothy, just off of the orphan train. When Toto gets a ride by an undersized flying monkey who can't keep up with the others. And my favorite: Toto relieves himself, deliberately, on the old witch's leg. I am so glad the munchkins didn't make a big production out of Dorothy killing the wicked witch of the East. It was an extremely good book that grabs your attention and holds you captive until the very end.

Thank you to Sylvia Patience, The Independent. Book Publishers Association, and NetGalley for giving me a free e-ARC book to read and give my honest review.… (mehr)