A Visit to Oz Challenge (March 31-December 31)

You’ve seen the movie, you’ve seen the musical– but have you read the book? And did you know there’s 13 other books, plus an additional 26 written by non-Baum authors? Not to mention all the apocrypha that’s been published.

If you’ve ever wanted to read the Oz books– any Oz books– but have been to intimidated or just never had a good reason, here’s your chance! Join the Visit to Oz Challenge and have some fun!

Okay, did that tempt you yet? Here’s some more details:

What sort of books count toward the challenge?
All of ‘em. Every book written about Oz, or about characters from Oz, count towards the challenge. This includes the books written by Gregory Maguire, or any of the Ruth Plumly Thompson books, and so on. I suppose non-fiction books could count too, like a biography about L. Frank Baum or somesuch.

Audiobooks and ebooks count as well.

How many books do I have to read?
A minimum of five books. Why five? Because there’s five countries in the land of Oz! Er, if you count the Emerald City area as a separate country, that is. Here’s a map. Of course there’s more countries outside the main Oz bit– but, er, moving on.

Of course you can read as many as you like after the first five. For those that read all the “canon” Oz books (40 of ‘em!), I’ll have a special prize for you at the end.

How long will the challenge last?
From March 31 to December 31! More than enough time to read at least five Oz books; they’re pretty short. Well, the original books are, at least– the apocryphal ones are normally longer.

I’d love to join! Sign me up!
Fantastic! Just leave a comment here with a permalink to your list/challenge post, and I’ll stick your name at the bottom of this post. If you don’t have a blog but would still like to participate, lemme know and I’ll very happily add you to the list as well.

And feel free to steal that image up there for your own posts. I made it; hope it isn’t too horrible!

Before you leave…!
I’ll have a discussion post up on around the 1st of each month, where we can catch up with other participants and talk about the books we’ve read so far. It’ll be fun (hopefully), and I hope that you’ll stop by then! (Idea borrowed from Becky’s It’s the End of the World II Challenge.)

If you have any questions or suggestions, please don’t be shy: leave me a comment or send me an email through my contact form located at the top of my blog there. I’ll get back to you ASAP.

A Visit to Oz Challenge Participants
Anastasia (that’s me!) @ Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog
Jeanette @ A Comfy Chair and a Good Book
Blondierocket @ Reading Comes From Writing
Meaghan @ Am I Who I Want to Be?
Penny @ Penny’s Pages
Shannan @ Shannan Loves Books
Whitney @ Bookworm Whit