The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Interactive Reader Quick and Dirty Teaching Guide with Student Sample Answers The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Written by by L. Frank Baum 1 Chapter 1 Teaching It! Chapter 1 of The Wizard of Oz begins the tale of a orphaned girl from Kansas who gets swept away from her dull, gray life by a cyclone. The descriptions in this chapter are bleak and as gray as the storm itself. “Sun‐baked”, gray and an uncle who never laughs are examples of the heavy and solitary life Dorothy lives. Discussion Question: Can you imagine a parent in your house covering her ears when you laugh. Give students a moment to discuss this together. When Baum published The Wizard of Oz in 1900, some speculated that it was an allegory for the Industrial Revolution and capitalism. Others say it is just a great fairy tale for children. Baum uses color throughout the book. When you discuss the symbolism of color, it is helpful to poll your students to ask who has seen the original movie and discuss how the Kansas scene at the opening of the movie is black and white but when Dorothy lands in Oz, it is in Technicolor. Chapter 2 Teaching It! Chapter 2 of The Wizard of Oz opens in brilliantly bright colors. The sun is shining. The stormy skies of Kansas have figuratively and literally opened up to an adventure. The Munchkins wear blue, the Wicked Witches shoes are silver and the road is paved in bright yellow bricks! Even the home of the Great Wizard is a color – Emerald. Here is a good place for students to stop and discuss the importance of color and how color makes them feel. Ask them to talk in groups and be prepared to share. Discussion questions: Do bright colors affect the way you feel? How? What do you think of when you think of yellow? What do you think of when you think of blue? What do you think of when you think of green? This is an introduction to what exists in Oz. Talk about that with students. What exists that does not exist in Kansas: witches, magic… Theme: The main theme of the book is introduced in Chapter 2: “There is no place like home.” Write this on the board and return to it as the theme grows in Dorothy’s heart chapter by chapter. 2 Chapter 3 Teaching It! Dorothy prepares for her journey. She eats, sleeps and keeps herself clean and takes extra effort to look nice. These are very adult traits. Dorothy proves to be motivated. Her mission is to get back home and she bravely pursues this. Discussion questions: Give students a moment to discuss this together. Ask students if they are ever bravely motivated to do something and if they accomplish the task. Discuss and predict what will happen to Dorothy. Discuss the symbolic color of her dress – remember that blue is the color of the Munchkins dress. White is the color of witches. The Scarecrow is introduced in this chapter. Toto does not like him at first. Chapter 4 Teaching it! Dorothy describes her home, Kansas, to the Scarecrow. The Scarecrow can’t understand why Dorothy would want to go back to such a dull place when Oz is so alive and colorful. Dorothy tells him that no matter how dull her home seems and no matter how beautiful another land may be: “There is no place like home.” When the crow teases Scarecrow for not having a brain – Scarecrow feels sad and bullied. This is a great discussion point with students. Have them talk in pairs about a time when they were called a name and how it made them feel. Discussion question: Talk about how it feels to be called a bad name. The end of Chapter 4 foreshadows their meeting of the Tin Woodman. Discuss foreshadowing with you students and see if they can predict the coming of the Tin Woodman. Oz is a popular and well‐known story so using it to teach and reinforce story elements work well as the links are easy for students to follow. Theme: “There is no place like home.” Chapter 5 Teaching it! It is important to point out to students that neither the Tin Woodman or the Scarecrow have brains or hearts and yet each only seeks one. Discussion questions: Is it more important to lead with one’s heart or one’s head? Aside from the physical function of the heart and the brain – which is more important? Dorothy demonstrates that she is brave by not running from the Tin Woodman when she hears him groan. 3 Chapter 6 Teaching it! The Cowardly Lion joins the travelers. He is a lion, but he is afraid of his own proverbial shadow. His can be loud, but that truly is a front. He uses this loudness and the perception of his lion persona to get himself out of fights. Discussion question: How is this chapter about facing one’s own fears? The Lion threatens Toto and even though Dorothy is afraid, she faces her fear and protects her dog. Chapter 7 Teaching it! In Chapter 7 we see that not everything is as it seems. The Cowardly Lion demonstrates courage and the Scarecrow demonstrates an amazing critical thinking ability. He determines how to cross the water or ditch, multiple times. He dreams up a plan for defeating the Kalidahs. And then he is willing to give his life for his friends. Is there any greater act of courage? Discussion question: Cowardly Lion is smarter than he thinks he is. Has there ever been a time you’ve surprised yourself by being smarter, more courageous, or kinder than you thought you could be? Chapter 8 Teaching it! Theme: Never judge a book by its cover. The travelers deal with a loss in this chapter and the Tin Woodman shows he has a heart when they believe that Scarecrow will have to be left behind. Also, when Lion falls asleep in the poppy field, the Tin Woodman says he hopes Lion will find courage in his sleep/dreams. Scarecrow again demonstrates he truly does have a brain. It is he who is able to ascertain that the current dilemma is no worse than life had previously been for him. There is foreshadowing of the Emerald City within the field of poppies. Dorothy sees it as beautiful. She sees the pleasure flowers can bring; however, just as the Emerald City is beautiful – we must not be too hasty judging books by their covers. Theme: Never judge a book by its cover. Chapter 9 Teaching it! Theme: There are strengths in numbers and small can be mighty. The field mice can talk but they are not magical. The great things they can accomplish come from working together. The mice are initially afraid of both Toto and the Lion. Perhaps a question here would be – are there really such things as natural enemies? Discussion question: What can you accomplish together that you can’t accomplish alone? 4 Chapter 10 Teaching it! The closer the four get to the City of Emeralds, the more disturbing news they hear about the Wizard. They learn that no one has ever seen him and that he is angry and does not like to be disturbed. This is the first time in the story that Dorothy hears that the Wizard may not help her. Everyone along the way has led Dorothy to believe that the Wizard would help her. Now she begins to hear otherwise. She is so self‐sufficient, no obstacle seems too great and yet she can’t do the one thing she really wants, go home. Foreshadowing and discussion questions: Why wouldn’t the Wizard want to be seen? What purpose would it serve to be able to appear as anything you like? As the Wizard can? What do you think is the real character of the Wizard? Chapter 11 Teaching it! One of the main conflicts of the story is humility vs. pride. Dorothy is humble and brave and meets the proud antagonist the Wizard. The Wizard is proud, but afraid. Dorothy and the Wizard arrived in Oz similarly. You may want to introduce irony in the following statement spoken by Dorothy: “Because you are strong and I am weak; because you are a Great Wizard and I am only a helpless girl.” We have seen Dorothy demonstrate courage and resourcefulness beyond her years. The Wizard seems to be a frightened bully who hides behind a persona. The Wizard uses Dorothy for his purposes. He wants to get rid of the last evil witch and will not help Dorothy or her friends until she kills this witch. She is actually strong and he is weak. She does not know it, but she doesn’t need the Wizard, it is he who needs her. Discussion Questions: Why does each character see the Wizard in a different form? What do each of the forms the characters see say about their situation? This chapter is a turning point of the novel. Up until now, the characters placed all of their hopes in the Wizard (put all of their eggs in one basket so to speak). Now they have to trust themselves. Theme: Self‐reliance Chapter 12 Teaching it! The universal theme of Good vs. Evil is central to this chapter. The innocent and good travelers enter the evil land of the Wicked Witch of the West, who has enslaved the Winkies. The Witch is angry that Dorothy and the others have entered her domain and sets out to destroy them.