A Kansas farm girl named Dorothy is swept up by a tornado, house and dog and all, and dropped in the magical land of Oz — onto the Wicked Witch of the East, who is killed instantly. The grateful Munchkins tell Dorothy the only way home is to follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City and ask the Wizard. On the way she picks up three travelling companions: a Scarecrow who wants a brain, a Tin Man who wants a heart, and a Cowardly Lion who wants courage.
L. Frank Baum published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900. He wanted to write a uniquely American fairy tale — no European witches, no European princes — and he succeeded. The four travellers reach the Emerald City, are sent on a second quest to kill the Wicked Witch of the West, and discover that the great Wizard is in fact a small frightened man from Omaha, Nebraska, hiding behind a curtain.
Baum wrote in clear American English aimed at children — short sentences, common verbs, no archaic vocabulary. Storica's A1 adaptation keeps the famous scenes (the tornado, the poppy field, the flying monkeys, the man behind the curtain) and stays inside the most common five hundred words.
Baum wrote Oz for American children at the turn of the twentieth century — short declarative sentences, concrete nouns, and a small repeated cast. A1 (present tense, simple past, ~500 most common words) catches the entire book without strain. The four characters and their three wishes give the vocabulary natural repetition.
Beginner. You can read short sentences in present tense, recognise the most common 500 words, and follow a simple plot. Past tense is just out of reach.
Yes — every book in the Storica catalog is available in all seven supported languages: French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, and English. The Wizard of Oz was originally written in English, but you choose your reading language when you start.
A1. Beginner. You can read short sentences in present tense, recognise the most common 500 words, and follow a simple plot. Past tense is just out of reach.
About one month at fifteen minutes a day. The adaptation runs to 25 short chapters — short enough to read before bed, long enough to actually move your level.
No. Storica's adaptation is the version you read. We keep the characters, plot beats, and tone of the original — and rewrite the language to fit the level. If you've read the original before, you'll recognise the story; if you haven't, the adaptation is a complete reading of the book.
Pick up where you left off. There are no streaks, no penalties, and no notifications begging you back. Day 12 is still Day 12 a week later.
Yes — this is one of our books for early-stage learners. Sentences run short and the vocabulary stays inside the most common five hundred to one thousand words of your target language.
Your first 30-day book is free. No card. No streak. Just a passage every morning.
Read it free for 7 days →A small group of readers working through classics in their target language — Kafka in German, Camus in French, Bovary in Spanish. Leave your email and we'll send your invitation.
Use this code in the app for 30% off your first year of Storica Pro.