The ending of this book felt really random to me. I just don't get it. How did moving the town to Oz make things better? The book discussed very real problems, but came up with a very fictional and almost silly solution. Why would Ozma do that? It just doesn't make sense. In fact, this book didn't feel terribly Oz-like to me. Oh well.

Ok, after that opening statement I can't wait to dive into this book! It just sounds so intriguing!

This book is amazingly good. It kind of ends suddenly, but it also ends at a good time. I want to go find the second book now, but I think that it's going to have to wait for a little while.

I'm intrigued. What does Miss Applebaum have? Some form of cancer? A tumor or cyst? And why is she so desperate for company? Is she lonely? Where is her family? I can't wait to find out more!

The descriptions in this book are fantastic. Each one is so vivid. I love that the kids describe different things. Zelda is artistic and sees beauty and art and life everywhere. For her it's all about connections, any connections, between different times, different places, different people, different stories and probably many others that I just haven't seen yet. Henry seems to be all about visuals and questions. If it doesn't immediately spark a question, he has trouble caring very much. He sees surface, big picture things while Zelda misses that concentrating on details and stories and connections. The combination allows for a very rich and interesting view of what is happening. The writing of this book alone is great. I have a feeling that the story will live up to it beautifully.

It's always funny when the author of a book states in the introduction that before beginning work on the book he or she knew absolutely nothing about the subject and didn't really care that much about it. I love that the author's wife was offended by the caption of Effa Manley's photograph in the Hall of Fame Museum and asked her husband to write about the truth about Mrs Manley. I always hate dismissive captions like that one and am glad that someone brought it up! I'm really excited about reading this book and hope that by the end of it I have a better understanding of what made Mrs Manley worthy of being in the Baseball Hall of Fame (as the only woman to date).