Taking a look at the Oz story

Much to love in seeing Wicked on stage again

When the idea of Teen Book Club was first floated my way, oh boy was I excited, but oh boy was I nervous. What would we read? What could we read? Did we have enough copies of one book? Then it was; what if no one came, or, what if everyone came?

As mentioned, what I struggled with the most was finding reading material for everyone to read. Instead what I opted for were monthly themes, “read a horror novel”, “read illustrated fiction”, “read a book on poetry”, and then when I had a dedicated group we tried reading challenges tailored to what they enjoyed and what they avoided (2020’s book club all agreed romance novels were the worst, so naturally I tried to make them read one). Until, at long last, I was finally able to set a single book for everyone to read; The Wizard of Oz.

What made The Wizard of Oz so easy to read as a book club was all the readily available versions of it! From L Frank Baum’s original tale, to Michael Morpurgo’s retelling from Toto’s point of view, to Ben Calwell’s graphic novel adaptation. We, as the library, have plenty of versions and ways to consume this classic tale. But it didn’t stop there, a quick look at our e-platforms (Libby, Cloud Library and Hoopa) provided an abundance of both e-books and e-audiobooks! The

e-audiobook came in handy for slower readers and those who had left it to the last minute, because it is only four hours long!

From August 17 to September 3, Wellington’s St James Theatre hosted Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz, adapted from Gregory Maguire’s novel, Wicked : The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. The musical follows the life of

Elphaba Thropp (later dubbed the Wicked Witch of the West), her unlikely friendship with Galinda Upland (later known as Glinda the Good Witch), and how the decisions she makes changes the world of Oz, setting the stage for Dorothy’s arrival and eventual downfall.

Naturally, this musical was something we couldn’t miss! Requiring everyone in book club to read The Wizard of Oz was mostly to ensure everyone knew the source material, but to also help them pick up foreshadowing and jokes that otherwise wouldn’t have hit in the same way — like the Wicked Witch of the East’s shoes being silver and not red, as the movie would have us believe. Having already seen the musical when it first came to Auckland in 2014, I was able to pull my eyes away from the stage to watch everyone else’s reactions as they were fully

immersed in this wonderful show. Overall, Wicked proved to be a wonderful adaptation, and felt more like an open love letter to both the works of L. Frank Baum and Gregory

Maguire. It was such a joy not only to be able to watch it for a second time, but to be able to share that experience with young people who love a good story as much as I do.