Observations on a children's book

As I've posted several times previously, I've been collecting various Oz books that came after L. Frank Baum's original 14.

Ruth Plumly Thompson wrote the next 19. I read "The Royal Book of Oz" last week (#15, her first Oz book, based on notes made by Baum). It's an enjoyable read, but of course Thompson was already a well-known children's author when she agreed to start writing Oz books.

After 19 books, she decided to step down as official "Royal Historian" of Oz in 1939. (She later wrote two more Oz books, in the 70's). At this point, 32 of the 33 Oz books had been illustrated by John R. Neill (all but the original), and so the publishers asked him to write an Oz book.

Neill wrote 4 Oz books, but the fourth was not illustrated or published until 1995, when Eric Shanower edited the manuscript, illustrated it, and published it. The last few days I've been reading the first of these, officially known as Oz book #34, "The Wonder City of Oz". And, as one reviewer I read put it, it's clear that drawing is Neill's strength, and not writing. But on several levels, this is also an entertaining book.

( more behind the sekrit link )

Lazy Sunday

It's my mom's birthday. I called her. I was a good son for once.

My brother-in-law is odd. Talked with my dad about going on a fishing trip together, then complained for hours about how he likes to fish alone, he doesn't like having other people around, he doesn't need any friends. He has some emotional issues, I think. I said that if he really valued his privacy so much, he should have stayed single like me.

I didn't do anything today, and it was fun. That would have been harder if I had a wife and daughter like my brother-in-law. ^_^ I surfed a little, took a shower, read some, watched some tv, went out and did some shopping at the mall. Wandered into Electronic Boutique, and while I didn't need to buy any new games, I looked through their used dvds and found King Henry V (the Kenneth Branach version) for 9.99. Sweet! One of my goals is to collect Shakespeare's plays in cd form for listening in the car or at work, and in dvd form if I can find a good movie version. Of course, I usually buy anime first... darn, if only they'd do an anime Shakespeare play with cute animal mascots added in, or something. ^_^ I need to get the other Branach Shakespeare movies too!

They also had Disney's Hunchback for 12.99. I considered it, but left it behind. Most of the anime and newer movies were priced over $20.00... not much cheaper than new.

Came home, did laundry, goofed around. A very fulfilling day of goofing off, if I do say so myself. ^_^