Description

In L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dorothy Gale is a young Kansas girl who finds the world turned upside down when she emerges from her home after a fierce tornado. Nothing is as it seemed only minutes ago—Dorothy is far from home, in a magical and strange place she has never seen before. As those familiar with the story know, Dorothy has landed in none other than Oz. All she wants, however, is to go back to her home and family in Kansas. A kindly witch appears, sending Dorothy on a quest to the Emerald City, to find the only person who can help her return home—the Wizard of Oz himself. Colorful characters, frightening villains, and amazing landscapes all make this work one of the most unusual and fascinating stories ever dreamed up. A beloved childhood classic and, as some have suggested, a shrewd socio-political commentary in disguise, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz will delight, perplex, and stir the imagination.

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)

Folklore, legends, myths and fairy tales have followed childhood through the ages, for every healthy youngster has a wholesome and instinctive love for stories fantastic, marvelous and manifestly unreal. The winged fairies of Grimm and Andersen have brought more happiness to childish hearts ...