Something Important To Know Before You Let Your Kid Read Wicked

Tori is a Wizard of Oz historian and collector who posts on TikTok as @theozvlog. So, needless to say, she has some thoughts on the upcoming release of Wicked, a movie based on the popular Broadway musical. In a recent video, she shared one of them and it’s relevant to parents of young readers.

In a stitched video, Tori responds to a video from @salemcurrie in which they recount reading Wicked by Gregory Maguire (the source material for the musical) as a tween. “Do you know how horny this book is,” they ask. “I read this book when I was like, 11. I shouldn’t have. Way too horny. ... The amount of parents who are going to be buying... their little Arianna Grande obsessed children this book to try to get them to read more... I don’t know...”

Tori jumps in, laughing. “I had to just weigh in here, because you and I had the exact same experience of reading this book at 11 years old: should not have done that. But it was a case of seeing Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West from across the Barnes & Noble and saying to my mom ‘Oh my gosh, Mom, look, it’s a book about the Wicked Witch of the West! It’s a new book! I’m an Oz collector: I must have it!’ and she said ‘Bet, kid!’ because she never said no to books, ‘Here you go!’ and then I read it and I had a lot of questions for my mother.”

She foresees this being a possible issue as Wicked becomes more popular and children are particularly drawn to pop star Arianna Grande (who plays the role of Glinda) on the cover of the novel’s latest edition. And because we, too, never like to say no to getting our children books, the cycle might just repeat.

For those not in the know, Wicked has lots of adult themes, including quite a bit of sex, some of it somewhat explicit. But Tori balances that fact with the value of the book overall.

“Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire is a life-changing, incredible novel, and when your children are of age I would strongly suggest reading this.” She goes on to say that if you don’t want your child to know about certain topics at their current age, this is a book you should hold off on letting them read, but also that this sort of decision is very individual. She herself notes that if her young daughter wanted to read Wicked she would probably say yes then answer questions as they come up.

“Like my mother did for me,” she says. “She did not take the book away from me. She just answered my questions politely and said ‘I probably should have read that before buying it for you.’ I believe it is a parent’s choice.”

So, in case you didn’t know, now you do: proceed with caution when it comes to Wicked. But I’d also urge you to think back to a book you read way too early (*raises hand* Interview with the Vampire at 12 over here!) and recall the effect that had on you when ultimately weighing this decision.

As one commenter so succinctly put it: “Reading Wicked too young is a cannon event for theatre kids.”