“The Emerald City is at the end of the yellow brick road, in the centre of Oz. ‘I thought,’ the wizard confesses, ‘as the country was so green and beautiful, I would call it the Emerald City, and to make the name fit better I put green spectacles on all the people, so that everything they saw was green.’ (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank L Baum)
In my novel The Girl Giant, the main character Ruth loves her rubber boots because they take her through puddles to the shores of a distant land, where trees talk, and flowers grow taller than she does. It’s a make-believe place – an escape from the hardships of being an outcast. I’ve been thinking about the many imaginary worlds of children’s literature, and what an adventure it would be to travel to them.”
Check back soon for more Imaginary Worlds.
