The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: The Road to the Emerald City

What this book practices

A shortened adaptation, in new words, of the opening chapters of L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel: the cyclone, the Munchkins, the silver shoes, and Dorothy's meetings with the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion.

Level

Chapter book: Five short chapters, about 130 words on a page

Themes

Classic, Adventure, Friends, Courage

After the story

A short activity checks understanding, then a prompt to tell a grown-up about the book.

Levels are PlayOwl's own design guidelines for each grade, not a certified reading level. In I'll Read, PlayOwl records that a child turned every page; it cannot hear whether the words were read.

Credit and rights

Adapted and shortened by PlayOwl from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (1900). Source: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (1900).

The words are new PlayOwl writing that follows a story in the public domain. PlayOwl claims no rights in the underlying story.

Adaptation

Follows the events of the opening chapters (the cyclone to the meeting with the Cowardly Lion) of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, first published in 1900. The story is shortened and told in new sentences. No edition, abridgement, film or illustrated version was copied; only the events, the characters, their names and the phrase "the road of yellow brick" come from the original. Public domain. In the United States, copyright in works published before 1929 has expired, and this work was first published in 1900. In countries where copyright lasts for the author's life plus 70 years, the term ended on 31 December 1989, because L. Frank Baum died in 1919. PlayOwl claims no rights in the underlying story.

Cover

Drawn in code for PlayOwl in 2026 with the Read with Olly illustration kit. An original design, not based on the cover or pictures of any edition or film. Original work owned by PlayOwl.

Illustrations

Drawn in code for PlayOwl in 2026 with the Read with Olly illustration kit, from the picture briefs in this file (a Kansas prairie farm in 1900 and the invented Land of Oz). Original designs, not based on the pictures of any edition or film. Original work owned by PlayOwl.

Narration

Spoken by the reader's own device voice. PlayOwl ships no recording. No recorded work exists.

Text

Written for PlayOwl in 2026 as a new, shortened adaptation of the opening chapters (the cyclone to the meeting with the Cowardly Lion) of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Every sentence is new PlayOwl wording, checked against Baum's text. Apart from the story's names (such as the Emerald City, the Wicked Witch of the East and the Tin Woodman), one short phrase of Baum's is kept: "the road of yellow brick". Original wording owned by PlayOwl. The underlying story is in the public domain (see the adaptation record).