The Wonderful Wizard of Oz a personalised book with your child as the hero

Dorothy lived in the middle of the great grey Kansas prairie with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife. Their house was small and grey, the grass was grey, and even the sky was grey. The only thing that was not grey was Toto, a little black dog with bright eyes, who made Dorothy laugh all day long.

One afternoon the sky grew dark and a terrible wind came whirling across the prairie.

"A cyclone!" cried Aunt Em, pulling open the trapdoor to the storm cellar. "Quick, Dorothy, run for the cellar!"

But Toto jumped out of Dorothy's arms and hid under the bed, and while Dorothy ran after him, the house shook, turned round twice and rose slowly up into the air. Up and up it went, right to the top of the cyclone, and it sailed along as gently as a balloon. After a while Dorothy curled up on her bed with Toto beside her and fell fast asleep.

She woke with a soft bump. Sunshine was pouring in through the window. Outside were green meadows, bright flowers and a sparkling brook, and coming towards her were three little men dressed all in blue, with round pointed hats that had tiny bells round the brim, and a little old woman in a white gown that glittered with stars.

"Welcome to the land of the Munchkins," said the little old woman. "I am the Witch of the North, a good witch. Your house came down so suddenly that the Wicked Witch of the East ran off in a fright, so fast that she ran right out of her shoes. She will never trouble anyone here again." And she held out a pair of shining silver shoes. "These are yours now. There is a charm in them, though nobody knows what it is."

"Thank you," said Dorothy. "But I want to go home to Aunt Em and Uncle Henry."

"Then you must go to the Emerald City and ask the great Wizard of Oz," said the Witch. "Follow the road of yellow brick, and you cannot miss it."

So Dorothy put on the silver shoes, which fitted her as if they had been made for her, and set off along the road of yellow brick with Toto trotting at her heels.

Beside a cornfield she saw a scarecrow stuck up on a pole to keep the crows away. To her surprise, the Scarecrow winked at her.

"Good day," he said in a rather husky voice. "Would you be so kind as to help me down? It is very tedious being stuck up here night and day."

Dorothy twisted the peg, and the Scarecrow climbed down by himself and stretched. "I am going to the Emerald City," said Dorothy, "to ask the Wizard to send me home."

"Do you think he would give me some brains?" asked the Scarecrow. "My head is stuffed with straw."

"Come and ask him," said Dorothy. So he came.

In the forest they heard a groan and found a woodman made all of tin, standing with his axe raised in the air, quite rusted stiff. "Oil," he croaked. "Oil my joints."

Dorothy found an oil can in his cottage and oiled his neck, his arms and his knees, until he could lower his axe and move again. "I was a real woodman once," he said, "but bit by bit I was made of tin, and the tinsmith forgot to give me a heart. Do you think the Wizard would give me one?"

"Come and ask him," said Dorothy. So he came too.

Deeper in the forest a great Lion bounded out onto the road with a terrible roar, and made a dash at little Toto.

"Don't you dare!" cried Dorothy, wagging her finger at him. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself, a big beast like you, frightening a little dog!"

The Lion sat down and wiped his eye with the tip of his tail. "I know," he said sadly. "I'm a coward. I roar so that everyone runs away, but inside I am always afraid."

"Come with us and ask the Wizard for some courage," said Dorothy. And so there were five of them on the road.

They came to a great field of scarlet poppies, whose sweet smell made anyone who breathed it fall asleep. Dorothy and Toto were soon out of it and safe on the grass, but the big Lion fell fast asleep among the flowers. The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman did not breathe at all, so they built a little wooden cart, and the queen of the field mice sent thousands of her mice, each with a string, to pull the sleeping Lion out.

At last, at the end of the road of yellow brick, they saw the Emerald City shining green against the sky. Inside, everything glittered with emeralds, and in the green throne room, above a throne of green marble, floated an enormous head.

"I am Oz, the Great and Terrible," said the Head. "I will help you only when the Wicked Witch of the West is gone."

So off they went into the yellow country of the West. The Wicked Witch had only one eye, but it could see far. She made Dorothy scrub her kitchen, and one day she tripped her with an invisible iron bar and snatched one of the silver shoes. Dorothy was so cross that she picked up a bucket of water and threw it all over her.

"Look what you've done!" shrieked the Witch. "Water is the end of my magic!" And she fizzed and shrank, smaller and smaller, until she was no bigger than a beetle, and she scuttled away down a crack in the floor and was never seen again.

Back in the Emerald City, Toto ran behind a screen in the throne room and knocked it over, and there stood a little old man with a bald head.

"I am Oz," he said, very ashamed, "but I'm not a wizard at all. I'm just an ordinary man from Omaha."

Still, he filled the Scarecrow's head with bran and pins for brains, gave the Tin Woodman a silk heart filled with sawdust, and gave the Lion a green drink of courage. And they all felt that they had just what they had wished for.

The Wizard made a great green balloon to carry Dorothy home. But just as it was ready, Toto ran after a kitten, Dorothy ran after Toto, the ropes snapped, and the balloon floated away without her.

So the friends travelled far south to Glinda, the Good Witch, who sat on a throne of rubies.

"Your silver shoes can carry you anywhere," said Glinda kindly. "If you had known their power, you could have gone home the very first day."

"Then I should not have found my friends," said Dorothy.

She hugged the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Lion goodbye, took Toto in her arms, knocked her heels together three times and said, "Take me home to Aunt Em!"

In an instant she was whirling through the air, and the silver shoes fell off and were lost. Then she was rolling on the soft grass of the Kansas prairie, in front of the new farmhouse Uncle Henry had built, while he was milking the cows.

Aunt Em came running out of the house. "My darling child!" she cried. "Where in the world did you come from?"

"From the Land of Oz," said Dorothy. "And oh, Aunt Em, I'm so glad to be at home again!"