Re-reading books from my youth

[Call Me Awesome]

21 hours ago, Techwright said:

Did you have more in your collection than the 14 that Baum wrote?  I did much the same as you, but at age 10.   I went on to read some of the books written by others and considered canon by fans.  Unlike you, I didn't own the books, I had to check them out from the library, so I sometimes had to wait until another kid finished a book, but it was worth it.

 

I was utterly amazed when the movie Return to Oz came out, combining elements of books 2 and 3.  The Wheelers, Tick-Tock and Jack Pumpkinhead were just like I'd imagined them.    Disney, at least in the 1980s and 1990s had the rights to produce all the Oz books, or at least Baum's 14, and I was baffled that they didn't do so in the wake of the Harry Potter movies, when several other movie series attempted their own book runs.  The Oz books are far darker at times than the Judy Garland musical would suggest, and IMHO, would have made excellent movies for the generation brought up on Harry Potter.

I think I had a couple of the post-Baum books but I hadn't looked at the books in probably 25 years when I loaned them to my young cousin back around 2000.  I haven't read many of them since I was very young and my memories of the exact stories are a bit faded... I think I read a couple of them a few years ago but most I haven't read in close to 50 years.