My daughters, ages 10 and 13, and I enjoy attending musicals together. We often go to local high school productions and have seen Legally Blonde twice, as well as Dear Evan Hansen. Because of this, I don’t hesitate to introduce them to more complex topics and storylines. These experiences create opportunities for meaningful conversations about sensitive subjects we might not otherwise discuss. In addition to musicals, both of my children are avid readers. Often, if they watch a show or movie that’s based on a book, they’ll seek out the original story to read. While we enjoy attending musicals, one we haven’t seen on stage—but did watch in theaters—is Wicked: Part One. With its stunning visuals of Emerald City and the excitement of Defying Gravity, it offered everything they could want from a movie or musical.
After the movie’s release, I remember walking into a large retailer and seeing movie-branded toys and books everywhere. However, the Wicked book, formally titled Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, tells a different story than what we saw on screen, even though the version now sold in stores uses the movie poster as its cover. This raises a question for many parents with Wicked-obsessed kids, especially during this holiday gifting season: Is Wicked, the book, appropriate for kids?
Key takeaways:
- The Wicked musical and movies are based on the 1995 book by Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.
- The Wicked book’s cover now uses the movie poster, which may confuse parents trying to figure out whether the book is appropriate for their kids.
- The movies are rated PG, with bright colors and kid-friendly themes, but the Wicked book leans into mature themes and adult content.
The ‘Wicked’ book vs. the ‘Wicked’ movie
After diving into Maguire’s first novel in his four-book The Wicked Years series, the answer became pretty clear to me within the first few chapters that the book and the movie have some noticeable differences.
At first glance, the book and the movie appear to live in the same space. They both have the same iconic characters, the same magical Land of Oz, and the same general ideas of morality and misperception. That’s about where the similarities end. The book is not as family-friendly as the movie. The original Wicked book is dense, over 400 pages, and is filled with a great amount of political narrative, a philosophical exploration of good versus evil, and a mature retelling of a beloved fairy-tale world. The book grapples with themes that most adults need time to unpack.
Is the ‘Wicked’ book appropriate for kids?
While one could argue that the first movie also paralleled what was happening in our political landscape, it also leaned into soaring hope, bright colors, and character development that kids could understand. The book, on the other hand, leans into moral ambiguity and adult content.
There is violence, sexual content, complicated power dynamics, and emotional heaviness that simply isn’t appropriate for young readers, in my opinion. The book wasn’t written with a young audience in mind, but rather for adults who grew up loving The Wizard of Oz and were ready to look at the story from perhaps a completely different angle.
“The book wasn’t written with a young audience in mind, but rather for adults who grew up loving The ‘Wizard of Oz’ and were ready to look at the story from perhaps a completely different angle.”
What makes this deceptive is that the book is now being sold with an updated cover to mirror the movie, so parents often assume the book behind the cover must be kid-friendly too. But with the movie and musical version, those media softened and reshaped the source material dramatically. All of this to say, it doesn’t make the book bad, but for children, it’s confusing, heavy, and potentially scary.
What age is the ‘Wicked’ book appropriate for?
And if your kid or pre-teen is curious about the book, this is a great opportunity to teach kids that stories evolve depending on the storyteller, and it’s okay for different versions of the same story to exist for different age groups and maturity levels. We can appreciate the movie for what it is—a bright and colorful story about friendship, courage, and defying the limits that are placed on us. And for younger kids, parents can find plenty of kid-friendly Wicked books that aren’t Maguire’s actual novel.
Childhood goes by in the blink of an eye, and for now, I want my kids to hold onto the magic of Oz that feels colorful. A world where friendship matters, courage grows, and someone who looks different from their peers can rise above any limitations placed on them. The movie gives them that in a way the book simply does not. Even Amazon’s own customer guidance places the book at 16+, a reminder that this story was crafted with more mature readers in mind.
As for my daughters and me, we are looking forward to seeing the movie Wicked: For Good and have already pre-saved the soundtrack on Spotify!
Maria Childs, Contributing Writer
Maria Childs is a marketing and communications professional living in Milwaukee. She is passionate about motherhood, co-parenting, and being a girl mom. When she’s not busy working in K-12 public education, you can find her running her two daughters to sports practices, dancing to Taylor Swift, browsing bookstores, and catching up with friends.
Products in feature graphic linked in article.
