I'd be curious to hear from Kate and Beth to see if that kind of bias is still entrenched. It's rare to find a children's library today that has more than The Wizard of Oz.

Huh! I don't think that bias persists -- I've never heard a librarian say anything disdainful of the Oz books. But as you note, they're not really a staple of many libraries, and that certainly could be traced in part to the disdain of an earlier era. They never really made it into the canon. And I'd guess that even if a librarian did want to stock up on Oz books, the length of the series and the variations in quality make it difficult to know which ones are worth purchasing.

That said, I'm pretty sure my local library had a bunch of the books when I was a kid; I remember reading several of them, and I know we didn't have them at home. I don't remember a whole lot about them, except that they were very different from the movie, but now I kind of want to find a few and see what I would make of them as an adult.

...Just looked up Glinda of Oz in the Nashville Public Library's catalog, and there are five copies available at various branches. Requested!

I read the first 10 or so Oz books at a neighbor's house. They were hardcover with gorgeous turn of the last century covers. If I ever run into that printing at a doable price I'll totally snatch them up.

The printing I read had (I think( reprints of those covers. And also included the continuation of the series by someone not Baum (I presume after he died). I don't rec the not Baum ones.

I must now read the Oz books.

I just learned today that my all-time-favorite, most wanted, most mysteriously unavailable, book from childhood is going to be reprinted this year!!

This turn of events is so important to me that I am actually going to call the rumored publisher tomorrow to confirm.

Sinbad and Me by Kin Platt.

Seriously, a HUGE check off the 'my life is now complete' list.

I have not read the Oz books, but will check my library soon.

I got to see K-Bug's apartment. It is cute. They have a HUGE walk in closet, pantry, and bathtub. I'm quite jealous of those. Funiture wise, they have a couch, a bed, a small bureau, and a tv. I took her to Target and bought a front door mat, a pot holder, and some kitchen towels.

And also included the continuation of the series by someone not Baum (I presume after he died). I don't rec the not Baum ones.

They were continued by a woman named Ruth Plumly Thompson for many years, and then after she died the incredible illustrator John R. Neill wrote a batch.

The Wizard of Oz was illustrated by W.W.. Denslow. And he had a sort of round cartoony style. Dorothy comforting the Cowardly Lion.

The succeeding volumes were illustrated by Neill who had a fantastically ornate Art Nouveau style. Dorothy and Ozma kissing by Neill. Nothing slashy here!

If you want to read just one Oz book that isn't The Wizard of Oz, I'd recommend The Patchwork Girl of Oz (which has the quite funny glass cat in it, and The Woozy), The Marvelous Land of Oz (the second book in the series. Mostly new characters), or Glinda that JZ recommends. Also The Sea Fairies and Sky Island though both of those have darker/stranger material.

Sinbad and Me by Kin Platt.

I ADORE THAT BOOK! It got me into architecture!

I ADORE THAT BOOK!

Me too! Did you know there were two sequels which have never been reprinted and are extremely difficult to find?

The Patchwork Girl also has the two rival groups of mountain-dwellers (actually inside a mountain, not on top) who live in two equally but oppositely gorgeous cities powered by radium.

Okay, nurse has been and gone, and her woo is crazier than I've seen in...maybe ever, off the internet?

She's working with a group of people right now to change medicine. Which, you know, if she were on a committee to resolve insurance issues, I'd give her a standing O. But she really literally means Change Medicine. They're going to alter the fabric of the universe so that medicine works differently, if I'm tracking her correctly...anyway, before the year is out, people will be treated with light and sound (because we are all God and God created light and sound first, ergo quod erat demonstrandum flobotinum). That's just the tip of the iceberg of crazy floating around in her sea of delusion--I think my brain is trying to protect me by throwing out at much of it as possible as soon as possible. Let's just say I'm pointedly napping at every point where I can remotely get away with closing my eyes. I don't know how else to fend off the lunacy.

The illustrations are definitely the most memorable part of the Oz books for me, and that might be easier because I've never seen the movie, so those are my only real images of the story. Also, it is such a wondrous universe, and the artists just went nuts.

I think those might have been some of the books I used to steal from...from anywhere. Either the houses of friends of my parents or libraries--I wasn't a discriminating criminal. But they definitely are stirring up larcenous memories.