Project 24: World Book Day and the Wizard of Oz

As it was World Book Day on March 1st, the week's project was based on a book of Solomon's choosing. He chose the Wizard of Oz.

We already had the Usborne Young Reading Series version of the Wizard of Oz, which Solomon enjoys on his own, and bought the full version for us to read with him. I can't praise the Usborne reading series enough, the only problem is Solomon reads them so quickly, and it's difficult to find full versions of classic books which have sufficient pictures to keep Solomon engaged on his own.

We watched two film versions of the book, both the classic Judy Garland version and the Muppet interpretation. He liked them both, but he liked the Muppet version best, and it was a nice way to introduce him to Kermit the Frog et al.

Solomon also created his own Wizard of Oz picture:

Solomon's Yellow Brick Road

It was a bit disappointing to find that Wicked wasn't available on DVD, but with so many other spin off films (Return to Oz, Oz: The Great and Powerful) and another 13 books in the series, there is plenty more to explore if Solomon wants to return to Oz in the future.

We also took the opportunity to discuss the wider publishing industry with Solomon, explaining the history of publishing, the size of the market, and the opportunities the web provides for self-publishing and the digitisation of original manuscripts.

Next week: Teeth!