Sam Reviews "The Emerald City of Oz" by L. Frank Baum (Oz, #6)

"Then he remembered that it was no fun being angry unless he had someone to frighten and make miserable."

"The reason most people are bad is because they don't try to be good."

"People often do a good deed without hope of reward, but for an evil deed they always demand payment."

I find it funny that after Uncle Henry and Aunt Em get to Oz they are given separate bedrooms.  Suppose it has to do with the times.

"[The School Pills] are sugar-coated and are quickly and easily swallowed.  I believe the students would rather take the pills than study, and certainly the pills are a more effective method.  You see, until these School Pills were invented we wasted a lot of time in study that may now be better be employed in practicing athletics."

Apparently in Britain "Draft" is spelled "Draught" but still means "a current of air".

"[The Fuddles] are made in many small pieces, and whenever any stranger comes near them they have a habit of falling apart and scattering themselves around."

New Word Learned:  "Mete":  dispense or allot justice, a punishment, or harsh treatment.

The amount of puns in the Utensia chapter is boggling my mind!!

The city of Bunbury is very Wonderland-esque.  A city of bunnies, that dress sharply, and speak intelligently that are able to make people bigger or smaller to suit their city.

Charlotte Russe is a cake that the mold of the cake pan is lined with sponge fingers (Ladyfingers) and then filled with a custard. Sometimes cake or bread slices are used in place of the Ladyfingers. Charlotte Russe is served cold with whipped cream.

"Then they began talking to one another in long, deliberate speeches, where many words were used but little was said."

"I do not aspire to be very wise, for I noticed that the happiest people are those who do not let their brains oppress them."

"[My brains] never worry me.  There are many seeds of thought in my head but they do not sprout easily.  I am glad that it is so, for if I occupied my days in thinking I should have no time for anything else."

It's funny to imagine a world where airplanes were still an invention that people hadn't quite mastered yet.  Also amusing that the author thought to talk about new inventions affecting fairies and their countries and how the reason we don't see them is because they had the forethought to hide themselves forever.

Sam Reviews "The Road to Oz" by L. Frank Baum (Oz, #5)

"I've learned from long experience that every road leads somewhere, or there wouldn't be any road; so it's likely that if we travel long enough, my dear, we will come to some place or another in the end."

"Be contented with your lot, whatever it may be, if you are wise."

"[The shaggy man] had refused to give up his shaggy clothes for new ones, because if he did that he would no longer be the shaggy man, he said, and he might have to get acquainted with himself all over again."

"To become civilized means to dress as elaborately and prettily as possible, and to make a show of your clothes so your neighbors will envy you."

The Musicker's name is Allegro da Capo.  Allegro means "fast" and da Capo means "from the beginning", which explains why his breaths repeat the same tune every time.

For once Dorothy and her friends didn't invite a character they met on their journey to join them, poor Musicker.

There's been few characters that sound creepy based on their descriptions, but the Scoodlers definitely sound demonic.  Two fronts, one all white with clown make up, one all black with weasel eyes, and they present themselves in big groups.

Funny it took til book five for the author to mention rainbows at all, and Dorothy says "there are things that would suit me better than dancing on rainbows."

"The only way to do a thing
"Is do it when you can,
"And do it cheerfully, and sing
"And work and think and plan.
"The only really unhappy one
"Is he who dares to shirk;
"The only really happy one
"Is he who cares to work."

"Rent" can mean a large tear in a piece of fabric.

An "Alderman" is an elected official of a municipal court.

Why on earth can Toto not talk when anything else brought from Oz can?

"If we used money to buy things with, instead of love and kindness and the desire to please one another, then we should be no better than the rest of the world.  Fortunately, money is not known in the Land of Oz at all.  We have no rich, and no poor; for what one wishes the others all try to give him, in order to make him happy, and no one in all Oz cares to have more than he can use."

First book ever I think to mention characters using the bathroom or "to make such toilets as they could."

"You could love the Tin Woodman because he had a fine nature, kindly and simple ...  Tok-tok was popular with the people of Oz because he was so trustworthy, reliable and true; he was sure to do exactly what he was wound up to do, at all times and in all circumstances."

"Perhaps it is better to be a machine that does its duty than a flesh-and-blood person who will not, for a dead truth is better than a live falsehood."

"'But I thought nobody ever died in Oz,' [Dorothy] said.
"'Nor do they, although if one is bad, he may be condemned and killed by the good citizens.'"

"'I think you are brighter than you used to be, Jack.' said the Tin Woodman.  'Your last head was a stupid one.'
"'The seeds in this one are better,' was [Jack's] reply."

The idea of a bear skin rug coming to life is pretty messed up.

"'You have some queer friends, Dorothy,' she said.
"'The queerness doesn't matter so long as they're friends,' was the answer."

"It isn't what we are, buy what folks think we are, that counts in this world."

Where / how did Santa get wrapped up in Oz?

Sam Reviews "Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum (Oz, #4)

This story was sweet, though I still prefer the previous story more.  On to the next.

I think it's really sweet that Frank Baum writes letters to his child readers at the beginning of each of his books.  It definitely goes to show how times have changed, and how an author could so much easier be influenced by their readers during the time where few things were truly mass produced.

"'We had a lot of earthquakes.  Didn't you feel the ground shake?'
"'Yes; but we're used to such things in California, they don't scare us much.'"

"We can't help ourselves no, you know, and I've always been told it's foolish to borrow trouble."

"No one can love a person he's afraid of."

Since there are no horses in Oz, it seems odd that they would call a sawhorse a sawhorse, since it's called that based on it looking somewhat like a horse.

"Whenever an appeal is made to law sorrow is almost certain to follow."