Sylvia Patience, Author

Today, Toto and I visited Allegra Bortin’s second grade class at Watsonville Charter School for the Arts (WCSA). They’ve been reading my book, Toto’s Tale and True Chronicle of Oz together. Each child has a copy and follows along as the teacher reads.

As the author(s) and guest reader, I started where they last left off, at chapter twelve. The travelers come to a wide river and cross on a raft constructed by the tin woodman, Nick Chopper. In the process, the scarecrow (Jack Straw in my version) is left clinging to a pole in the middle of the river.Lots of dialogue and many different voices in this chapter.

This class of twenty-two children aged seven followed along and afterwards asked questions that showed they noticed details, for example, “Why was the lion afraid when Dorothy told him he had fleas?”

They all wanted to pet Toto and hear his own story, and they were happy to receive bookmarks with his picture.

I’m delighted to have people as young as this group of children up to elders with fond memories of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz enjoying my book. If you’ve read it, please post a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or Barnes and Noble. Thanks.