'Wicked' and More Retellings from the Land of Oz
L. Frank Baum's classic children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, immediately found an adoring audience of young readers when it was published in 1900. It has remained a beloved story around the world and has been translated into over 50 languages. The Land of Oz and its characters have transcended Baum's pages and inspired numerous adaptations and retellings—musicals, films, novels—that have taken on their own creative lives and found devoted fans. The latest—the musical fantasy film Wicked, based on the still-running 2003 Broadway musical which is loosely based on Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel of the Wicked Witch's origin story—just hit theaters and is already breaking records.
Oz, in its many forms and interpretations, has clearly captured our imaginations. If you're familiar with the story but never read the original, we recommend starting there. (And if you love it, Baum wrote 13 sequels!) Below are adult and young adult books that took inspiration from Baum's story and turned it on its head in various ways including a sci-fi fantasy set in a game-like world, a snarky retelling from Toto's perspective, and a modern day Dorothy struggling through a graduate program with "wicked witch" professors in Dublin.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
by L. Frank Baum
After a cyclone transports her to the land of Oz, Dorothy and her dog befriend a scarecrow, a tin man, and a cowardly lion, on their way to seek help from the great Wizard in order to return to Kansas.
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
by Gregory Maguire
Set in an Oz where a morose Wizard battles suicidal thoughts, the story of the green-skinned Elphaba, otherwise known as the Wicked Witch of the West, profiles her as an animal rights activist striving to avenge her dear sister's death.
The first book in The Wicked Years series.
After Oz
by Gordon McAlpine
Accused of murder after going missing for four days and returning with tales of a fantastical land, a young Dorothy must convince a psychologist of her innocence in 1896 Kansas, in a retelling of The Wizard of Oz.
The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale
by Virginia Kantra
After heartbreak and humiliation, Dorothy “Dee” Gale applies to the writing program at Trinity College Dublin where, during a year of opportunities and changes, love and loss, finds the confidence to confront her biggest fears and see herself and her work with new eyes.
Finding Dorothy
by Elizabeth Letts
Reimagines the story behind the creation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from the perspective of L. Frank Baum's intrepid wife, Maud, whose hardscrabble life on the Dakota prairie inspires her husband's masterpiece and her advocacy of an exploited Judy Garland.
Toto
by A.J. Hackwith
The true hero of The Wizard of Oz takes center stage in this delightfully snarky reimagining from Toto's perspective. "Look, something really stinks in Oz, and this Wizard guy and the witches positively reek of it. As usual, it's going to be up to a sensible little dog to do a big dog's job and get to the bottom of it. And trust me: Little dogs can get away with anything."
Was
by Geoff Ryman
Dotty, old and maybe crazy, sees The Wizard of Oz on TV, and recognizes it as her own story in this novel exploring the lives of Oz characters: the "real" Dorothy Gale; Judy Garland's unhappy fame; and Jonathan, a dying actor, and his therapist, whose work at an asylum unwittingly intersects with the Yellow Brick Road.
Young Adult Titles
Dorthy Must Die
by D.M. Paige
Whisked to Oz by a Kansas twister, Amy Gumm discovers that the magical land has been destroyed by Dorothy's tyrannical rule, a situation that compels Amy to join an order of deposed magic-wielders who seek to put an end to Dorothy's reign.
First in the series of four books, 9 prequels, and several collections of stories.
Tin Man (graphic novel)
by Justin Madson
Solar is in her last year of high school and is reeling from the recent death of her grandmother. She has abandoned her plans for the future and fallen in with a bad crowd. Her little brother, Fenn, doesn’t understand why she’s changed—she doesn’t even want to help him build their rocket in the garage anymore. Campbell is a tin woodsman—a clunky metal man whose sole purpose in life is to chop down trees. He longs for more, however, and decides to seek out a heart, believing that, with one, he will be able to feel things he has never felt before and, therefore, change his life.
Rainbow in the Dark
by Sean McGinty
High school senior Rainbow is trapped with three other teens in a game-like world that may or may not be real, in this darkly comic novel about identity, giving up, and finding the way home.
Beau, Lee, the Bomb & Me
Bullied by homophobic peers after transferring to a Seattle high school, overweight, alienated Rusty runs away with his new friends, Beau and Leonie, and embarks on a revelatory West Coast road trip.
The Blue Road: A Fable of Migration (graphic novel)
by Wayde Compton; illustrated by April Dela Noche Milne
Lacuna is a girl without a family, a past, or a proper home. She lives alone in a swamp made of ink, but with the help of Polaris, a will-o’-the-wisp, she embarks for the fabled Northern Kingdom, where she might find people like her. The only way to get there, though, is to travel the strange and dangerous Blue Road. At the end of her treacherous journey, she reaches a city where memory and vision can be turned against you, in a world of dazzling beauty, divisive magic, and unlikely deliverance. Finally, Lacuna learns that leaving, arriving, returning— they’re all just different words for the same thing: starting all over again.
Spelled
by Betsy Schow,
As the crown princess of Emerald, Dorthea lives a charmed life, but when she unknowingly wishes upon a cursed star, all hell breaks loose and the rules of fairy tale disappear—taking Dorthea's parents with them.
First book in the Storymakers series.
Related reading: The Wizard of Oz on Stage
Summaries provided via NYPL’s catalog, which draws from multiple sources. Click through to each book’s title for more.