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WIU Libraries celebrates Banned Books week. Celebrate the freedom to read.
I will be reading from The Wizard of Oz written by L. Frank Baum
Dorothy told the Witch all her story; how the cyclone had brought her to the Land of Oz
how she had found her companions, and of the wonderful adventures they had met with.
My greatest wish now, she added, is to get back to Kansas,
for Aunt Em will surely think something dread¬ful has happened to me, and that will make her put on mourning;
and unless the crops are better this year than they were last I am sure Uncle Henry cannot afford it.
Glinda, the good witch, leaned forward and kissed the sweet, upturned face of the loving little girl.
Bless your dear heart, she said, I am sure I can tell you of a way to get back to Kansas
The witch turned to the scarecrow, what will you do when Dorothy has left us?
I will return to the Emerald City, he replied, for Oz has made me its ruler and the people like me.
The only thing that worries me is how to cross the hill of the Hammer-Heads.
By means of the Golden Cap I shall command the Winged Monkeys to carry you to the gates of the Emerald City, said Glinda,
for it would be a shame to deprive the people of so wonderful a ruler
Turning to the Tin Woodman, she asked;
What will become of you when Dorothy leaves this country?
He leaned on his axe and thought a moment. Then he said,
The Winkies were very kind to me, and wanted me to rule over them after the Wicked Witch died. I am fond of the Winkies
, and if I could get back again to the country of the West I should like nothing better than to rule over them forever.
My second command to the Winged Monkeys, said Glinda,
will be that they carry you safely to the land of the Winkies. Your brains may not be so large to look at as those of the Scarecrow, but you are really brighter than he is
when you are well-polished—and I am sure you will rule the Winkies wisely and well
Then the Witch looked at the big, shaggy lion and asked, When Dorothy has returned to her own home, what will become of you?
Over the hill of the Hammer-Heads, he answered, lies a grand old forest,
and all the beasts that live there have made me their King. If I could only get back to this forest I would pass my life very happily there.
My third command to the Winged Monkeys, said Glinda, shall be to carry you to your forest.
Dorthy exclaimed, you are certainly as good as you are beautiful! But you have not yet told me how to get back to Kansas.
Your Silver Shoes will carry you over the desert, replied Glinda. If you had known their power you could
have gone back to your Aunt Em the very first day you came to this country.
But then I should not have had my wonderful brains! cried the Scarecrow. I might have passed my whole life in the farmer's cornfield.
And I should not have had my lovely heart, said the Tin Woodman. I might have stood rusted in the forest till the end of the world.
And I should have lived a coward forever, declared the Lion, and no beast in all the forest would have had a good word to say to me.
This is all true, said Dorothy, and I am glad I was of use to these good friends.
But now that each of them has had what he most desired, and each is happy in having a kingdom to rule besides, I think I should like to go back to Kansas.
The Silver Shoes, said the Good Witch, have won- derful powers.
And one of the most curious things about them is that they can carry you to any place in the world in three steps.
All you have to do is to knock the heels together three times and command the shoes to carry you wherever you wish to go.
If that is so, said the child joyfully, I will ask them to carry me back to Kansas at once.
I've loved the Wizard of Oz since I was a little girl and recently I've had fun reading it with my 6 year old niece.
It has been banned by libraries all over for reasons including: its perceived socialist value,
it supports negativity, or negativism, and the fact that witches are referred to as good.
Celebrate the freedom to read.