Age: 8; Traditional book 4th grade.
This is not really a review, because, honestly, everyone knows Wizard of Oz. But did you know there are 14 books total?
I read most of it in one go when I discovered it in our local library. It was in the library’s 5th grade section. But supposedly the AR level is 7.x. Last year Astroboy went through a phase where he listened, and relistened to the whole audiobook series.
Anyways, there are tons of Wizard the Oz versions out there. So here is a handy reference of what I found. The only thing I really regret is not having Astroboy listen to the Chinese audiobooks first. But I accidentally loaded the English version and then just went along because I’d wanted him to improve his English comprehension this year.
Otherwise, typically we
- Listen to Chinese audiobooks
- Read Chinese books by conveniently not loading all of the Chinese audiobooks available.
- Watch Chinese videos
- Listen to English audiobooks
- Read English books if there’s still an interest
- Watch English videos
I know, kind of crazy. But instead of reading tons of books, I try to find big sets that the kids will be engrossed in and just listen/watch/read in repeat so the language and phrasing really sticks.
Reading Level
As I mentioned, the AR Level for this is 7.x. But I think overall it’s written in a very simple way and many kids in the lower levels can read the English in middle or upper elementary.
I would probably introduce the audiobooks once my child has started reading well, maybe past Reading 123 level but not at Happy Reading 456. The audiobooks can be listened to by lower elementary kids Astroboy‘s age, 7+. I’m sure you can find 5 year olds who love the series as well but I wouldn’t since I would want to try and get my kids to read the books if they really love the audiobooks. I would use this set as a way to lead the children to books with longer stories and plot, much like some of the Dahl books.
If you have a kid who is around the Happy Reading 456 level, can read without zhuyin, or can consistently read 250+ page books without illustration, this is a good book to read in Traditional. The nice thing with the simplified version is you can read it a bit earlier. But either way, it’s a good way for getting kids into long books that are fun and not quite full of those long story setups yet.
Book Titles
| English Title | China Title (東方出版社） | Taiwanese Title | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Wonderful Wizard of Oz | 神奇的魔法师 | 綠野仙蹤 |
| 2 | The Marvelous Land of Oz | 南瓜人 | |
| 3 | Ozma of Oz | 地底历险 | |
| 4 | Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz | 玻璃城 | |
| 5 | The Road to Oz | 仙境迷途 | |
| 6 | The Emerald City of Oz | 翡翠城 | |
| 7 | The Patchwork Girl of Oz | 碎布姑娘 | |
| 8 | Tik-Tok of Oz | 滴答人 | |
| 9 | The Scarecrow of Oz | 稻草人 | |
| 10 | Rinkitink in Oz | 魔法珍珠 | |
| 11 | The Lost Princess of Oz | 失踪的公主 | |
| 12 | The Tin Woodman of Oz | 铁皮人 | |
| 13 | The Magic of Oz | 变身魔法 | |
| 14 | Glinda of Oz | 营救桃乐丝 |
Chinese Books
There are several different simplified versions and the translations are slightly different. Take the first sentence of the first book for example: “Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies….”
The best translation I found was 上海译文出版社’s 绿野仙踪全集 (Shanghai Translation Publishing House). But they only translated 4 books! The translations maintain the simple tone of the English version and does not redact too much info. Their first sentence said: “多萝西和亨利叔叔、爱玛婶婶住在堪萨斯大草原的中部，叔叔是农民，婶婶是农民的妻子”. Most of the other translations omitted the line that Uncle Henry was a farmer and his wife a farmer’s wife.
You can also find this version online at http://www.yysycn.com : book 1, book 2, book 3, book 4.
The next best translated version, with ebooks available on Amazon, is 北京时代华文书局’s 绿野仙踪全集, (Beijing Times Chinese Press). Its first sentence read “多萝茜和亨利叔叔、艾姆婶婶一起住在一望无垠的堪萨斯大草原。” This is what we have at home.
Fleur’s Bebe read this version during our WSA19 trip. I don’t know how she was able to since she doesn’t typically read simplified. But maybe if you have a pretty high comprehension and can guess characters. If I ever let Astroboy have a shot, I would probably add Kindle’s pinyin option to these books.
上海译文出版’s 绿野仙踪全集 (Shanghai Translation Publishing House) also available as ebook on Amazon.com, says “有一個小姑娘叫多羅西，是個孤兒”, basically saying there’s a girl named Dorothy who is an orphan.
Lastly, there’s a 東方出版社’s 奥兹国仙境奇遇记, I don’t now if there’s a Kindle version. I prefer the Beijing Times version as this one used more advanced vocabulary and phrasing compared with the original English. And its first sentence says “有一個多羅西的小姑娘，是個可憐的孤兒”, also a wrong translation stating she’s an orphan. (Unless there’s a different English version floating somewhere? But Dorothy’s name doesn’t change, which is a plus.
Supposedly, this version has Chinese audiobooks? At least that’s what the DM says on jd.com. It’s also the version most often read on ximalaya.com.
For traditional, you also have multiple choices.
We own 國語日報 綠野仙蹤, which is unabridged and has the original illustrations I grew up with. You can click on the link to see the inside pages. It does not have zhuyin. I like the quality and the illustrations of this version. The translation is the best out of the bunch I’ve listed so far, accurate and using a simpler vocabulary that matches the original.
My Instagram page has pics of the first few pages as well.
三采 has a zhuyin, abridged version. In fact there are many different versions out there, but this one has a pretty cover. (Yes! I totally judge a book by its cover.) Normally I don’t buy abridged versions because I’ve been burned by the kids not wanting to read the original. This book is part of a classics series from 三采.
There are tons of other versions out there on books.com.tw, just keep in mind that the majority is abridged. That’s why I’m not listing them here. You can search for 綠野仙蹤 or 奧茲國.
Chinese Audiobooks
On ximalaya, there are various recordings based off of the various translations. Most are incomplete. But I picked the ones that are being updated still.
If you want instructions on how to download ximalaya when all you see is wall of Chinese, you can check out Chalk Academy’s handy walk through.
Shanghai Translation Press 上海译文出版社’s 绿野仙踪全集
- AYUNCN has these 4 books: book 1, book 2, book 3, book 4; I had Astroboy try my favorite translation but the voice was too soft and he did not like how the names changed from the traditional version. This version isn’t being updated because there was only 4 books to start with.
Eastern Publishing’s 東方出版社’s 奥兹国仙境奇遇记
- 薇安小葵 has 4 books: book 1, book 2, book 3, book 4, book 5; My choice because this one I had nothing to complain about. Astroboy said he preferred the woman’s voice and the names didn’t change. He’s been listening to book 1 nonstop for the whole day today.
- 赵一森 has 10 books: book 2, book 3, book 6, book 7, book 8, book 9, book 10, book 11, book 12, book 13. Most complete but he reads so slowly, and where’s book 1! I will probably have Astroboy try this version after he’s done with 薇安小葵.
- 兜兜爸爸讲故事 has 6 books: book1, book 2, book 3, book 4, book 5, book 6. Pretty good but right off the bat he read one of the first few sentences wrong in book 1! Made me suspicious of how accurately he’s reading the books.
Chinese Videos
You know those old Japanese anime Taiwan used to run when I was growing up? Yup, there’s apparently a Wizard of Oz anime! It’s called OZ國歷險記. There are 52 episodes.
The YouTube versions have super low resolution, which I dislike. There’s a bilibili.com version, dubbed and with Chinese subtitles, which I prefer, except for the ads. Available at: https://www.bilibili.com/video/av2287832/
English Audiobooks
The audiobook that totally hooked Astroboy was the Anne Hathaway version I purchased from audible.com years ago when they were running promotions. It’s just like the Socks book narrated by Neil Patrick Harris. The different voices are so distinct and super well acted. I recommend even if you find a complete narration set, still listen to this version for the first book!
There are various recordings floating on the Internet and I ultimately collected several versions. One was whatever was available from our local library.
The other was when Audible ran a sale and offered their Complete Wizard of Oz Collection for $0.01.
The third was LibriVox, which has volunteers read public domain books. After the first few audiobooks from our local library, I completed my set by downloading from LibriVox . I used the steps outlined in my post on Downloading Audios and join the Phil Chenevert narrations.
English Books
Personally, I love the physical books with those book plates. But we don’t have room for them at home so I have downloaded ebooks. None of which my kids have read because they have listened to the audiobooks multiple times and aren’t interested in reading it.
You can find ebooks in your library, or Project Gutenberg has them to download for free.
And there you have it. Man, this took me hours to research because I was trying to find that perfect version for Astroboy. The problem with me and research.
You can find other books I’ve reviewed off of my Books Page.
