Oz, the Complete Collection, Makes Bedtime Stories Easy

We got Oz, the Complete Collection, Volume 1 by L. Frank Baum a while ago, and read straight through without any “I don’t know” or tough bedtime story decisions for about a month. This particular volume contains the familiar The Wonderful Wizard of Oz story, plus The Marvelous Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz.

My daughter was enthralled by the original story and eager to go on to the next two. If you weren’t exposed to the other books in the series as a kid, you’ll love this set as much as your kids do. I never even realized there were so many, so I was always eager to read at bedtime because I wanted to know what happened to all those beloved characters.

These books, which each contain three stories, are about $9 each. The paperback, though thick, is easy to hold and it’s not so heavy that you want to stop reading the story because your arm’s too tired to continue. It also falls open easily, so you’re not stuck straining your thumb to hold the pages apart as you read, or sitting awkwardly to hold it open.

Each of the five books in the collection has about 600 pages. They’re written and recommended for ages eight through twelve, but they make excellent bedtime stories for younger kids. My daughter has enjoyed them at ages five and six, and I can see her feeling like tackling the challenge of reading them on her own in a couple of years once she gets more comfortable with sounding out words.

If you don’t remember from childhood, the sentence structure and word choices in the book sometimes seem a bit awkward, which can make it tricky to read them out loud at first, but once you fall back into the world, you barely notice the oddities.

Photo credit: Books-a-Million