After finishing all of the Beverly Cleary books, AJ had a request for our out-loud reading: The Wizard of Oz. I�ve never seen him so riveted by a book before. Every evening, when our nightly chapter was complete, he would beg for �just one more.� So after finishing the first book, we moved right on to the second, The Marvelous Land of Oz.

I own most of my childhood copies of the Oz books, but for some reason I never read The Marvelous Land of Oz, so we checked it out of the library in a beautiful facsimile edition from Books of Wonder. It�s actually a great book for October, because it tells the story of Jack Pumpkinhead. In fact, the book�s illustrations of Jack Pumpkinhead inspired the face that AJ drew on our jack-o�-lantern for me to cut out.

This morning we were introduced to General Jinjur and her Army of Revolt, an organized mob of uniformed girls who intend to overthrow the King of the Emerald City (the Scarecrow from the more familiar story) in order to gain access to the jewels and government treasury, with which they intend to buy gowns for themselves. Armed with knitting needles and their own pretty faces (for, as Jinjur notes, men dare not oppose pretty girls) they succeed in their quest almost immediately upon their arrival at the city gates. The Army of Revolt is redubbed the Army of Victory. It remains to be seen how the story plays itself out � we have many chapters yet to go. I seem to recall, however, that Jack Pumpkinhead ends up as

It seems clear that the Army of Revolt is intended as a jibe at the suffragettes (the book was first published in 1904), and as a satire, it is both amusing and a little bit offensive. But such subtleties are lost on AJ, who is convulsed with laughter by the descriptions of the girls menacing the gatekeeper with their knitting needles. The significance of the knitting needles escapes him.

Questionable depiction of women aside, I love reading these books with AJ. The books are magical. There is political satire for the adults, along with some complicated wordplay that generally goes right over AJ�s head. There is also slapstick humor. There are strange and mysterious creatures and vividly colorful descriptions. But a large part of the magic is Baum�s language. He uses big and very descriptive words. Every now and AJ and I stop reading to discuss the meaning of some word or other, but for the most part AJ picks the words up and files them away for later consideration and use. The words weave their own magic, set the mood and keep him absolutely focused.

As a child, I was obsessed with words. I started writing poetry when I was three � my mom still has the old green and white composition book where she transcribed my assorted early verse including such gems as:

Big black rain clouds in the sky
Big black rain clouds, fly, fly, fly!
Big black rain clouds are so dark.
Big black rain clouds in the park.

When I was a little older I made up my own alphabets and languages. I was fascinated with secret codes and had many books about spies. And then there was Oz. I read those books over and over and over again. The Oz books weren�t about the magic locked up in the individual word. They were about the magic of putting words together. I hope AJ is as inspired by them. Meanwhile, Jack Pumpkinhead�s grin flickers nightly on our porch.

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