Description

L. Frank Baum, the magician behind the beloved children’s classic, The Wizard of Oz, brings twelve stories of wonder and delight to life in his 1901 collection American Fairy Tales. Fairies, elves, and all sorts of fantastical characters join forces for adventures of the silliest sort in each one of these literary gems. You’ll laugh your way through such tales as “The Magic Bon Bons,” in which a box of very special candies gives a young woman amazing talents, or “The Dummy That Lived,” about a shop mannequin who comes to life. Take a break from the cares of the real world and dip into a realm of fancy and fun with this delightful collection.

About the Author

Born into a large family in New York, Lyman Frank Baum (1856-1919) grew up on a large and luxurious family estate. There, his interest in the printed word began early on as he and his brother published their own newspaper on a printing press that his father had purchased. Though he drifted a bit from job to job as an adult, writing was always part of Baum’s various enterprises, whether clerical or agricultural. In fact, his first published book was a non-fiction work on the raising and care of chickens. After marrying, Baum and his wife moved to South Dakota where he ran a general store and then began to write for a local newspaper. Only when Baum moved to Chicago in order to pursue his career as a writer for the Evening Post did he first begin to create the children’s stories for which he remains famous today. In 1900, he published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and with it, achieved instant fame and fortune. As early as 1902, his novel was adapted for the stage. Baum continued to write sequels to his beloved children’s classic, eventually completing thirteen different novels about Oz. Always in search of new directions, in his last years Baum followed his lifelong love of theater to Hollywood, where the film industry was just beginning to take root in the early 1910s. To this day, L. Frank Baum and his “Oz books” remain a familiar presence on bookshelves around the world.

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Opening Lines (Experimental)

No one intended to leave Martha alone that afternoon, but it happened that everyone was called away, for one reason or another. Mrs. McFarland was attending the weekly card party held by the Women's Anti-Gambling League. Sister Nell's young man had called quite unexpectedly to take her for a long ...