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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: the book vs. the movie

The Wizard of Oz (1939) — the MGM classic · Wicked (2024) — the musical prequel — a huge new on-ramp

Read first, or watch first?

This is the rare case where movie first is genuinely a fine plan. Most kids arrive already knowing the 1939 film, and the book treats that as a head start: the opening feels familiar, and then the story keeps going into chapters no one has spoiled. One thing worth saying before they start: the movie makes Oz a dream, and the book never does. If your kid found the book through Wicked instead, it works just as well in that direction; this is the original map of the whole country.

What the movie changed

01

Oz became a dream

The film wakes Dorothy up in Kansas and turns the farmhands into her companions. Baum never does that. In the book Oz is a real country, Dorothy really went, and kids notice the difference immediately.

02

The silver shoes turned ruby

Baum's shoes are silver. MGM made them ruby because red looked better in Technicolor, which was brand new and the whole point of the production. A fun one to tell a kid before they start.

03

The witch shows up much earlier

The film builds the whole story around the witch chasing Dorothy from the first scene. In the book she doesn't appear until the Wizard sends the friends west to face her. The movie is a chase; the book is a journey.

04

The story stops at the Emerald City

The film ends shortly after the balloon flies off without Dorothy. The book keeps going: a whole second journey south, through countries the movie never shows.

What only the book has

01

The entire second half

The china country, the fighting trees, the Hammer-Heads, the Quadlings. Kids who know the film get a familiar first half and then a brand-new adventure nobody spoiled for them.

02

The Tin Woodman's story

How a flesh-and-blood woodman ended up made entirely of tin is told in full, and it is stranger than anything in the movie. Kids bring this one up at dinner.

03

The winged monkeys are their own characters

On screen they're henchmen. In the book they're a free people bound to a golden cap that grants three commands, with a history of their own, and they're not wicked at all.

04

Everyone gets an ending

The Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Lion each end up ruling a land of their own. The book takes the time to send every companion somewhere.

Making it a movie night?Find the 1939 film on Amazon →
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