Ruby Slippers Connect Me to Home
By Jessica Sadler
Thank you for joining us at the High Plains Public Radio Station. My name is Jessica Sadler. I can usually be found in a secondary science classroom, but I am currently a Teacher Professional Development Fellow at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. I am here with the other book leaders to discuss The Wonderful Wizard of OZ by L. Frank Baum. This classic is truly one of my favorites and it brings me great joy to discuss it as part of the 2026 Fall Readers Theme- Wind and Weather.
I am no stranger to Tornado Alley. I spent the first 19 years of my life growing up in Oklahoma and the next 15, in Kansas. There is nothing like the adrenaline rush that comes with the sounds of the sirens. I feel most anxious in the silence of the aftermath waiting to know what happened. As a little girl, I was obsessed with the Wizard of Oz. So obsessed I used to carry a Dorothy and Toto snow globe in my purse until it shockingly broke on a walk with my mom one day. Perhaps the fantasy of being swept away to Oz fueled my fancy of standing on the front porch and watching the storms come in until it was time to run and hide in the closet.
There is something deeply eerie and beautiful about the way wind moves through the world of Oz. In the story, a storm is not simply a storm but a force that carries Dorothy away from everything she knows and sets her on a path unknown. I enjoy the idea: that the very thing that frightens us can also become the thing that transforms us. The wind can tear through the ordinary, uproot what feels secure, and leave us disoriented, but it can also open the door to somewhere new. Perhaps that is why the tornado has never felt like merely a symbol of destruction to me. In Oz, it becomes an almost magical reminder that wonder sometimes arrives disguised as chaos.
Dorothy Gale famously mentions, “There’s no place like home.” and I must say I enjoy that much more than Thomas Wolfe’s idea that “you can’t go home again.” I think home is where you have different versions of yourself connected to strong memories of growth, change, and perhaps even heartache.
You can absolutely go back to those points in life because they made you who you are. Being in D.C., I was able to see the Ruby Red Slippers on display at the Museum of American History. I unexpectedly found myself tearing up and I don’t believe it was because of the stage prop before me.
It was because of a connection to memory, home, and stories that remain dear to my heart. If you enjoy novels you know from different perspectives, I would recommend reading Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts. This work of realistic fiction is told from the perspective of L. Frank Baum’s wife, Maud.
My name is Jessica Sadler.
