The Wonderful Wizard of OZ

I recently read the classic children's novel that inspired what is probably the most well known and loved movies of all times, The Wonderful Wizard of OZ by Frank L. Baum. I was surprised to discover that this is one of those rare occurrences where Hollywood took a delightful and imaginative book and, in making a film version, actually improved it!! The plot of the movie is entirely based on material in the book and any changes made are both understandable and only help to create cohesion and avoid confusion. The biggest change in the movie is that the Wicked Witch is made into a larger, more pervasive character, which adds an element the book lacks, an antagonist. The movie also merges two characters together to create Glinda, so that in the book Dorothy meets another good witch in the beginning who doesn't know about the powers of the ruby slippers (The witch of the South-ever wonder what had happened to her?) I would whole heartedly recommend taking a walk down the yellow brick road again and discovering the original characters and situations- including Boq, who is absent from the movie but who reappears in Wicked.  Definitely more interesting after having seen the movie!