My son and I, when he was around 10 or so, read through the whole series of Oz books by L. Frank Baum. There is so much more to the world he created than what is in the movie classic. First off, the movie is based on just the first of the 14 books in his series. And really, the movie is even not much like that first original book. The Oz in the books is much less fantasy and, I think, more of a utopian vision by Baum. My son and I had many long discussions about how the Oz world differs from our own.
There are lots and lots of characters that Dorothy encounters during her multi-volume journey through Oz. Of course, I was most drawn to this character, the Patchwork Girl of Oz. She has her own book, and even her own movie, produced in 1914 by Baum himself.
