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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written at the turn of the 20th century, is probably one of the most iconic American fairy tales, just as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is one of the most famous children’s novels in English literature. Almost everyone � at least in the English-speaking world � knows about the adventures of Dorothy, the young farm girl from Kansas, in the magical land of Oz, and her sidekicks, the Scarecrow without a brain, the Tin Woodman without a heart and the Cowardly Lion who lacks courage. These characters embark on three consecutive quests: the first (and most famous one) along the yellow brick road, to reach the Emerald City and find the Wizard of Oz; the second one, to the Winkie Country and the Wicked Witch of the West; and finally the third one, to the Quadling Country and Glinda, the Good Witch of the South.

This novel became a bestseller and was adapted into a Broadway musical, soon to become, in turn, a major Hollywood hit, with the 1939 film , starring Judy Garland (who was around 16 when she portrayed young Dorothy). The influence of this book on 20th-century literature and film can hardly be overstated. I suspect Tolkien had read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz before he started to work on The Hobbit. And, just to give a couple of obvious examples, John Boorman’s or David Lynch’s pay ample tribute to Baum’s novel. (L. Frank Baum is one of these authors whose name have been completely overshadowed by the popularity of their book.) The recent very popular musical, , is also worth mentioning.

One interesting aspect of this story is the fact that the Wizard turns out to be a humbug. As he says: “I’m a very good man. I'm just a very bad Wizard.� This sheds some suspicion on the very power of magic, which is rather unusual and subversive in a children’s fairy tale, and makes apparent the characters� own inner potentialities and strengths, precisely where they believed they had a flaw or lack (brains, heart, courage, incapacity to go home). In a way, the wizard is indeed a very good psychotherapist or politician, and the book is an edifying lesson on need and desire. Just as the Emerald City isn’t green, but only the green-tinted glasses people are made to wear make it so, it’s all, in essence, a matter of perception.

The edition I own is beautifully illustrated by Olimpia Zagnoli, who has managed to give some tempo to the reading experience with flat-coloured geometric drawings.