Looking for a Rainbow: The Story of Dorothy [Paperback]

This was a wonderful read, even though there were no pictures, it gave gave detail to things we often wondered or thought about (such as the years, age of people, etc.), along with the "origins" of the names Toto and Dorothy, giving specific histories/background-stories to many of the characters - new and old, and having Kansas portrayals of the Oz Characters and Places, often taking many quotes, sometimes a full chapter, from "the Wonderful Wizard of Oz". A rainbow does appear in the story. And all of the following happens before 1900.

This story tells us how Dorothy's parents, Bernard and Ellen Cassidy, with their 3 sons, moved from Ireland and into America, where Dorothy is born. It's tragic how Death takes hold of Dorothy's family - and those who don't die, disappear - eventually forcing her to go into a house for orphaned girls, but lucky for her, she is saved when she is selecetd to go to Kansas and serve an elderly couple (YOU KNOW WHO!). We learn about some of the life of Henry and Emily Gale, and what caused them to become so 'grey'. Living with Gales isn't so cheerful, but Dorothy's big heart leads the way to a better life. After Dorothy gets a Faithful New Friend named Toto and has a few adventures, (small, but greatly important), she and Toto are suddenly caught up in the cyclone, but lands back down again miraculously unharmed, finding herself greeted by 4 people, who welcome her to a place called Oz, thank her for killing the Wicked Witch of the East and send her off to see the Wizard of Oz in the Emerald City for help on getting back to Kansas.

Doorthy and Toto return to Kansas, and Dorothy explains her adventures to Aunt Em and Uncle Henry (who of course find it hard to believe) and many times tries to convince them. Even though I like this story on Dorothy's life before and after the cyclone, the end of the story is unlike Baum's Oz Stories (going through the same fate as Wendy did in "Peter Pan"), having Dorothy grow up, and now going on a new journey of life with Toto beside her 'down yet another Yellow Brick Road' (I won't say what happens in the end).

When Dorothy and Toto fall into Oz in this story, she is written to be older than Denslow's pictures show in the original, which suggested her to be 5-6, as pointed out by "the Annotated Wizard of Oz".

Those of you wish to get this book, but cannot get it from Amazon (considering that maybe because it might be out-of-print), can order it from "BiblioQuest", which can sell you almost any out-of-print book. Also, the subtitle "The Story of Dorothy" is underneath the photo of the cover and not actually underneath "Looking for a Rainbow", as shown above. I learned about the existence of this story after I got the "Return to Oz DVD", so between watching the movie and finally reading this book, I sort of got the idea that Dorothy finds Toto in a storm (rain and thunder, no cyclone), he saves her and in return gets adopted, but that doesn't happen in this story. This story has an event that's similar to the 1987 animated vesion of "the Wonderful Wizard of Oz" and the return to Kansas is similar "the Marvelous Land of Oz" of the same year. Perhaps Vincent J. Begley saw these adaptations and took a liking to them. This tory has 15 Chapters, starting from page 11 and ending at the bottom of 138.

I believe that the Life of Dorothy and Toto continues in Vincent J. Begley's next Dorothy novel "Dorothy; This Side of the Rainbow", which of course I haven't read yet. I hope there's already a review of it . . .

This is Vincent J. Begley's "young adult" version of the life of Dorothy... yes, of "Wizard of Oz" fame. Begley's adult version is due out soon.
The story introduces us to a life of Dorothy that we never knew existed, and there are many surprises along the way.
Entertaining, surprising, at times both sad and glad...Dorothy's life as Mr. Begley shows us will leave us with a lot to think about.
I look forward to his adult version, too, which will show some of what happens in the later years of her life.

› Go to Amazon.com to see both reviews  5.0 out of 5 stars