I reread this for the first time in years (and years, and years!)
I was reminded why I always thought the big storm that blew Dorothy's house away was a CYCLONE. In the book, that's what it was called! I knew that it was not presented as a tornado, as it is in the movie! I knew that the many times that I was corrected for calling it a cyclone, I had a legitimate reason! And the book pretty much starts with the storm, none of this evil neighbor or cockamamie guy who was later represented as the Wizard of Oz! There was not even anything about the farm hands.
I do remember from when I actually read it before that there are ever so many more different strange towns and societies in the book than are actually presented in the movie. Don't get me wrong, the movie is fabulous in its own right, but it's missing so much from the book! It really is a fabulous book, being the start of the collection of children's books which are written for entertainment of children as opposed to instilling fear in them by virtue of "teaching them a lesson". A lot of the very best children's books do still have an underlying goal of being moral lessons, but The Wizard of Oz truly broke that mold and is presented with the entire purpose of being FUN.

I was determined to not allow it to be so long between experiences with this book, and I have succeeded :-) I still love the book – it displays such imagination and development of the individual characters that I will probably always treasure it.