Book Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of L(yman) Frank Baum, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 5929 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
Them also I know, said Mary eagerly, for she was glad her father should find her so well acquainted with the field flowers; "there is nothing prettier than the big white flowers of the cockle-shells. But tell me, papa, what have the flowers to do with your coming home?" ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent illustrator;Oz author; nursery rhymes into stories
Maxfield Parrish black and white drawings complement L. Frank (Oz) Baum's expanded versions of the Mother Goose tales.Includes his versions of Sing a Song o' Sixpence, Little Boy Blue, Cat and the Fiddle, Old King Cole, Mistress Mary, Jack Horner, Man in the Moon, the Jolly Miller, Hickory Dickory Dock, Little Bo-Peep, Tommy Tucker, Tom the Piper's Son, Humpty Dumpty, The Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, LIttle Miss Muffet, and others. 1986 introducyion by Patricia Barrett Perkins. 265 pages. ... Read more

Book Description
The world of Oz has given joy to countless generations of children; the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City has become part of American culture.Before he published The Wonderful Wizard of Ozz Baum tried acting, sales, and newspaper work without much success. Neither he nor his publisher had total confidence in Oz, but it promptly became a bestseller and has remained so ever since. Baum went on to write 13 more Oz books, while pursuing success in the theater and becoming involved in the early movie business in Southern California. atharine Rogers has written an eminently readable biography which grounds Baums imaginative creations in the reality of his day. She also traces his remarkable early support for feminismall his heroes are self-reliant girls, and his good rulers all femaleto the influence of his beloved mother-in-law, the suffragist leader Matilda Gage. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Well researched, but dry and ultimately unsatisfying read.
Although this book seems a bit on the dry side, it is nevertheless a well researched biography of a very influential writer almost forgotten (although obviously his Oz works continue to be important- albeit mostly due to the MG film).

Rogers does well to show how his background involvement in the suffragette movement most likely helped to inspire him to write one of the few female protagonist in fantasy literature (one only has to look to Harry Potter to see how little progress the genre has made in the past 100 years).One wonders if Rogers stumbled upon the curious fact that Baum's mother-in-law was a prominent member of the New York state women's movement at the turn of the century when she was researching some of her other books.

But over all the book seems to fall flat in giving the reader s true sense of the man and his times. While there is a fair amount of background on Baum's involvement with the women's movement and Theosophy neither aspect is fully developed for the reader. Rogers seems to feel that the reader ought to know exactly how these movements fit into turn-of-the-century life and what they were all about. Granted 1900 America is not exactly foreign to today's readers, but many of the ideals that people in that time subscribed to are all but forgotten. The women's movement is not feminism as we understand it today, a little more detail and background would help.

Over all one does not get a sense of the time and place Baum existed in. Granted, his life was fairly boring, routine and seems, despite constant money troubles, fairly well off. However context would help establish a reason to care about Baum other than the fact one might enjoy his writing. There are plenty of text synopses, but little delving into where the stories came from. Was he simply trying to modernize the fairytale? Based on Rogers book one gets the impression Baum was something of a hack, simply grinding out tales for children. I feel that there is more to his writings than that.

Kudos to Rogers for exploring fully Baum's non-Oz works. Again, a little more follow up (beyond the four or five paragraphs at the end) about what happened to the Oz series after Baum died and what happened to his copyrights etc (is the book in public domain? What happened to his originalpublishing house as I do not recall they still exist...?) His influence has been great ( C S Lewis owes at least a small debt to Baum) but Rogers seems to attribute it all to the MGM movie.

Competent Biography
L. Frank Baum, Creator of Oz is a necessary books for fans of Oz.Katharine M. Rogers provides a clear, balanced examination of the details of his life and includes analysis, and relates it to his life, of his writings, both Oz and other.The most important aspect of this book are the sections describing his other (often) successful series for children, such as Aunt Jane's Niece, which are little known today.The weakness of the book is the fact that outside of his writing, Baum's life is not particularly exciting.It seems very pleasant and homey and I could not be happier for him, but it does not always make for thrilling reading.Still, Baum fans will be delighted to have his entire story told so compentently with the added bonus of the author's informative analysis.

Hagiography for devoted fans
Katherine Rogers, like myself and thousands of others, is a fan of L. Frank Baum and his books about Oz. She is also a scholar and has written a truly detailed and well-documented biography of this interesting and influential man. It is a valuable addition to the body of literature, both fiction and nonfiction, about Oz.

For those who have never read an Oz book, this is still an important book. L. Frank Baum was an intriguingly different man for his times and reading about his life gives wonderful insight into America of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His feminism and respect for children and animals become some of the endearing features of his fiction and what make his Oz series classics of American literature.

He married Maud Gage, the daughter of Matilda Joslyn Gage, one of the leading women suffragists. So the information that Katherine Rogers provides on his relationship to his mother-in-law and his home life with Maud is invaluable to students of the women's movement. Gage's own 1893 book, WOMAN, CHURCH AND STATE, has just been brought back into print by Humanity Books in their Classics In Women's Studies series. Her belief that christianity and the Western state are the very basis of the oppression of women, which is detailed in this work, was radical at the time. Her own spirituality found a home in Theosophy which became the religious practice of Baum and was influential in his writings.

Baum took his family to the Dakota territory where three of Maud's siblings had settled. The book's account of their life on the northern prairie will be of interest to those who study the history of 19th century Dakota. As first a merchant and then a newspaperman, Baum's views on life in the Dakotas are well represented. It is in this section where we first encounter Baum's racism. He wrote an editorial where he called the native Americans "a pack of whining curs" who should be totally exterminated [p.259]. Rogers doesn't develop this aspect of his personality very deeply saying that for Baum these were "thoughtless lapses, in which Baum unthinkingly went along with contemporary attitudes [p.272]." Her treatment of his racism is confined to the Notes at the end of the book.

For those who are avid readers of Baum's fiction, the book is a wealth of information. Each of his novels are analyzed and related to the events in his life. When possible drafts are compared with completed works to gain insight into Baum's creative process. His relationships with his illustrators W. W. Denslow and John R. Neill are described. The close relationship he had with Denslow is contrasted by the distance he maintained with John R. Neill. His dispute with Denslow, who illustrated The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, over the ownership of the characters may have contributed to his reluctance to know Neill better. Baum and Neill only met once. He relating to Neill mostly through the publisher, which accounts for some of the mistakes that exist between Baum's descriptions and Neill's pictures.

The book contains 35 pages of Notes, many of them long and detailed additions to the text. A six page listing of Baum's published works will be a joy to collectors. The 13-page index makes it easy to find any details quickly in the text. This is a wonderful work with a positive perspective on Baum, his writings, and the time in which he lived.

A wonderful tribute to the man who created The Wizard of Oz
When I was little, Oz lust made a thief of me. My grandfather ordered a dozen books in the series at a time, doling them out to me on birthdays or when I had tonsillitis. I found out in which cabinet he hid them and temptation took control of me. Although I was caught practically in the act, I went unpunished. Who can spank a child for wanting to read?

There were a total of 40 Oz books on my shelf (only the first third --- THE WIZARD OF OZ (1900) and 13 others --- by L. Frank Baum) and an Emerald City built of green glass and construction paper in our basement. Oz was a world intensely real to me; the boundary between its wonders and ordinary existence was noticeably porous. If Dorothy could be blown by a tornado into fairyland, why (to paraphrase the song) couldn't I?

Katharine M. Rogers understands my passion. In L. FRANK BAUM: CREATOR OF OZ, Rogers, an early Oz aficionado herself, combines a scholar's detachment with a child's delight. She is also a revisionist critic, bemoaning the Oz books' exclusion from the haughty scholarly canon of "good" kids' literature. In this book, the first full-length adult treatment of Baum's life (although there is a lengthy biographical essay in the centennial edition of Michael Patrick Hearn's THE ANNOTATED WIZARD OF OZ), Rogers undertakes to follow the Yellow Brick Road to the origins of Baum's imaginative universe and establish his works as genuine classics.

Baum didn't immediately become a full-time writer. For years he was the very model of a self-reliant, entrepreneurial American. He was involved in a number of different businesses, including poultry breeding, china selling and newspaper editing. While none of his enterprises ever really took off, his spirit of adventure, his independence and egalitarianism, his healthy skepticism and persistent optimism are all reflected in the characters he created and the land they inhabit. The novelist and critic Alison Lurie once called Oz "an idealized version of America in 1900, happily isolated from the rest of the world, underpopulated and largely rural, with an expanding magic technology and what appears to be unlimited natural resources." Rogers develops this idea further, offering some splendid insights into Baum's pastoral vision, individualistic values and ambivalent relationship to science and technology (which, in his books, are closely identified with magic) --- marvelous in their power, but dangerous if misused.

Baum was also very American in his industry and ambition. However, in marked contrast to our sequel-crazed age, he did not originally think of THE WIZARD as the first in a series. For some time he continued to invent new fairylands; when none of them really caught on, he finally resigned himself to a yearly Oz book (a pattern that would continue until his death in 1919). He also wrote adult novels, plays and non-fantasy series for children under pseudonyms like Edith Van Dyne and Laura Bancroft.

The female pen names are not as incongruous as they might seem. Rogers, whose field is women's studies, is particularly enlightening about Baum's feminism: his wife, Maud, was the daughter of a major figure in the fight for women's right to vote. She, not Frank, was the disciplinarian and financial manager in the family, an arrangement that seems to have suited them both. Oz itself verges on the matriarchal --- girls are the heroes of ten of the fourteen books and they are brave, strong, honest, practical and unpretentious. There are no frogs being transformed into princes here. In the LAND OF OZ, second in the series, Baum turns the gender tables on traditional fairytale magic when the boy protagonist, Tip, turns out to be the lost princess, Ozma.

Because Rogers' biography is a pioneering effort, it can't afford to skimp on any detail of Baum's life --- so there are, inevitably, tedious moments. There is also a great deal of dutiful synopsizing of each volume this very prolific author published, not all of them of equal value or importance. Still, on the whole, Rogers does a fine job of combining biography with an intelligent and balanced literary/social assessment of Baum's work. She doesn't pretend that his writing style is "poetic or beautiful or especially distinctive" (and she rightly criticizes his annoying penchant for dialect), but she is persuasive in her advocacy of his talents: "Baum's greatest gifts were the two most important ones for a writer of fantasy: he could create a wonderful world and he could make it believable." Underpinning this credibility was a vast respect for his audience. "Father never 'wrote down' to children," Baum's son Harry said. "They were his friends and companions and he always treated them as such."

L. FRANK BAUM: CREATOR OF OZ is likely to be sought out principally by those who already love Baum's work. People who know Oz only through the 1939 Judy Garland film will be less enchanted, for Rogers doesn't like the movie very much. Above all, she disparages the idea (entirely absent in the Baum original) that Dorothy's trip to Oz was nothing but a dream. For true believers like Rogers and me, this is nothing short of sacrilege.

--- Reviewed by Kathy Weissman

Remembering Civility
Katherine M. Rogers' L. Frank Baum: Creator of Oz is an excellent biography of the American writer, one that should generate new interest and encourage further scholarly research on this neglected and still underrated American author.

A decent, hardworking, and ambitious gentleman, Baum (1856-1919), who all thought "exceptionally sweet-natured and easy-going," lived a full and adventurous life, even in his later years, when most of his adventuring took place in his colorful and far-reaching imagination. The confident, plainspoken Baum, an epitome of civility, was a modest Renaissance man, almost something of a wizard himself.Before discovering his talent for writing children's books and creating Oz, the young Baum worked as a an actor, a playwright, an oil salesman, a "frontier" storekeeper, a newspaper editor and a publisher. Later, he was also the producer of `radio plays' and, in the very early days of cinema, films based on his Oz creations. Happily chasing rainbows, Baum moved from one part of the country to another as the spirit and his intuition moved him.

Married to the daughter of suffragist leader Matilda Gage, Baum was an active and life-long supporter of women's rights. As Rogers clearly shows, the free-thinking Baum never ruled the roost in his own home; domineering, no-nonsense, feet-on-the-ground wife Maud consistently provided the necessary ballast that kept their home, finances, and Baum's career afloat. In one hilarious episode, Baum makes the mistake of enthusiastically introducing a dozen donuts to the household; for daring to insult her cooking, pantry, and shopping habits, Baum is browbeaten and given a chilly reception for a full week, until he comes to understand that he's "not to buy any food whatsoever unless asked to get it" by his wife.From the early days of their marriage, Baum comes to understand that "around the house," Maud "is the boss." When their very young son cheerfully throws the family cat out the second story window, Maud dangles the child from the same window as the neighbors watch on in horror, an incident the boy never forgot. As Rogers points out, Oz was a matriarchy.

Never very close to his own mother, who frowned on his "disregard for conventional religion," both Baum and Maud were devoted adherents of Theosophy, another of Matilda Gage's intellectual interests. In Theosophy, Rogers says, Baum found a belief system and a vision "of the cosmos in which physical and spiritual reality were part of one great whole, filled with beings seen and unseen," one that was to bear fruit for Baum in his numerous fairy books.Rogers believes that the reason both his fairies and fairylands are "so concretely realized" is because Baum honestly believed fairies "had spiritual or subjective reality."

In her introduction, Rogers, who was devoted the Oz books as a child, relates her dismay in finding, as new college English instructor in 1958, that the Oz books were not taught by "responsible teachers," who only taught "good" children's literature, something Rogers equates with "literary pretension." As recently as 1994, Rogers says, the books were rejected for their "blandness," which suggests that the author of that study, scholar Gillian Avery, had either bad taste, dead senses, no imagination, or simply hadn't read the series. Rogers provides the minimum of a brief synopsis for each of the Oz books, as well as for each title in Baum's numerous other fictional series for children, including The Boy Fortune Hunters, Mary Louise, and Aunt Jane's Nieces.

Roger's 22-page analysis of the first and most famous book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, is exceptional; even the most devoted Oz enthusiast will find something new in her discussion. Comparing Dorothy and Carroll's Alice, Rogers find Dorothy the more admirable role model, as "responsible, self-reliant, brave, sensible, honest, and self-confident" Dorothy is "able to make sense of the confusing world she is plunged into," and "can act effectively and resist unreasonable authority." Rogers illustrates how the laws of the land of Oz illustrate the values of self-accepting individuality, self-respect, respect for others, and equality; how the book teaches "a wholesome practical morality through examples." She notes that Oz has only female witches, all of who bear real power, while the lone wizard is a powerless humbug and a fraud. Referencing Baum's earlier how-to-decorate book, The Shop Window, Rogers underscores Baum's principle that while misleading people is wrong, it's an almost necessary evil, as people demand "gratification of impossible wishes." Thus the Wizard's Emerald City is largely an illusion, as are his hopeful solutions to the Scarecrow's, Lion's, and Tin Woodman's problems; "how can I help being a humbug...when all these people make me do things that everybody knows can't be done?" Rogers places the book in its proper historical fairytale context, and, in an accurate, happily non-politically correct psychoanalytical passage, claims that Dorothy is allowed "the opportunity, enviable to any child, of killing the bad mother without guilt." Rogers also interprets The Wonderful Wizard of Oz within the context of its Americanism and the age in which it was written, and provides the etiology of the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman.

Later chapters contain extended, equally interesting interpretations of the Gump, Jack Pumpkinhead, the sex-changing Tip, Ozma, the Woogle Bug, both Nome Kings, Tik-Tok, Scraps the Patchwork Girl, even Billina, the cantankerous hen.Fans of both W.W. Denslow and John R. Neill will find the sections discussing each highly satisfying.

Rogers' writing is confident, crisp, detailed, and clear. Her touch is light but thorough throughout.She clearly loves her subject, about which she has a ready sense of humor.The left-handed Baum was `the Royal Historian of Oz,' and with L. Frank Baum: Creator of Oz, Rogers has become Baum's own Royal Historian, a position too long vacant, and now gracefully filled. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

the man behind the curtain
Like many people (too many people, perhaps) I grew up with The Wizard of Oz only in movie form.For many years I didn't even KNOW it was based on a book, and I certainly didn't know anything about its creator, L.F. Baum.Though I knew there were other books written by him in the Oz series, I had no idea, until reading this biography, that there were over TEN other books in the Oz series alone.I guess ya' learn something new every day...

L.F. Baum had a pleasant childhood peppered with some unhappy experiences and generally was in poor health.Like many creative people (especially in the early 20th century) he was considered a dreamer and would probably come to no good, squandering his life and his money away on frivolous things.Time has proven this to be fortunately incorrect.

One of the first males to be deeply involved with the women's' suffrage movement, he started his own newspaper as a young child, borrowing news from other papers and news sources and creating poems and puzzles for his readers.He went on to work newspapers most of his life, on and off, doing a wide variety of jobs, including selling axle grease.All during this time he continued to tell stories and write.Indeed, he was one of the first authors to write stories geared specifically to children, and could even be considered the father of the modern children's book.

"L. Frank Baum" is packed with details of this little known man and shows a tremendous amount of effort and attention on the part of the author.Anyone above, say, 5th grade could easily use this book alone as the sole source on his life and times.However, it should be noted that the writing is rather dense with information and could be considered uninteresting reading-for-pleasure material for students who are merely curious about his life.Though richly illustrated with photographs, posters and book excerpts from Baum's life and books, a good deal of these illustrations are very teeny-tiny, making the details difficult to see.They would be more effective if enlarged even by 25%.

There is an excellent chapter on "Oz and the Censors", which is offset by a whole chapter just about a months' vacation.This sort of disjointed discussion of Baum's life and overemphasis on certain details shows up every now and then, causing the reader to sometimes say, "huh?" or forcing one to reread for greater clarity.

As far as school-aged children go, I would fancy that this book would serve more as a resource for paper writing than for sheer enjoyment due to the volume of facts and the dryness of the text.Still, it's an excellent book, meticulously researched, and it sheds some very much-needed light on the man whose book was the basis for one of the best-known movies in 20th century America.When we all listen to admire Ms. Garland singing "Over the Rainbow", or cackle like the Wicked Witch of the West, or laugh at the antics of the Cowardly Lion, we should stop and remember the kind, gentle man who gave the filmmaking world the idea for these characters.

Fair
Well, definitely informative and helpful. Well-written. Text is accompanied by wonderful photos, but some of the info. is not always correct (just minor parts). It is not balanced either, sometimes they spenda chapter on a decade, other times a chapter for a five-week vacation...

A Superb Book!
Wonderful! It brought me into those little places in Baums life that made me feel like is friend. I love the photos (sometimes I think Groucho Marx copied Baum, hehe) and the text is excellent. If you love Oz, you just HAVE to read this book. ... Read more

Book Description

More than a children's story, Oz stands as a demarcation point between American's rural past and urban future, harmoniously uniting a democratic spirit and a utopian vision with a prescient dark undercurrent that foreshadowed the Great Depression.

This centennial edition, elegantly designed for all ages, includes rare and illuminating materials of interest to both first-time Oz readers and bibliophiles alike.

Essays about L. Frank Baum's classic, its impact and enduring appeal accompany the text, and feature revealing critical and biographical information. Among the authors are luminaries Ray Bradbury, Gore Vidal, Nicholas Von Hoffman and a biography of Baum by Oz scholars.

This is the first in a series of definitive new and collectible Oz editions prepared in conjunction with The Baum Family Trust. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Quite Different From the First Book
The thing I noticed most about this book is that Baum tries to stick quite a bit of jokes in this one.This is quite a bit of an improvement over the first book, which seems devoid of attempts at humor.Still, I give this a lower rating than the first book because I'm a little freaked out regarding identification issues with Tip, the main character.You have to read the entire book to know what I'm talking about.I think when Baum wrote this issue into the book, he figured nothing like it would ever happen in real life, but less than 50 years later, it did.Weird.The Gump seems to have some identity issues as well which leads me to believe that identity is a big theme of this book.Another example - the scarecrow's whole body is replaced with money after his straw is gone, but he is still the same person because of the content he possesses, that being fake brains.Identity has got to be a theme here.

Still, despite what weird identity issues there may be, the book is a great read.Jack Pumpkinhead and the Woggle Bug are solid new characters that I really like.The Scarecrow and Tin Man are back and are the same as always, except sometimes the Tin Man is called Nick Chopper.I don't understand why he didn't have a name in the first book but now he all of a sudden has a name, but oh well.

I like the Wicked Witch of the West and all, but General Jinjur is the main villain in this one, and I think I might like her better because she's pretty.You won't see characters like her and her army in a book printed in modern times because such characters today would be considered sexist.Let's face it though, sexism was popular back then.Everyone today would tell the author, "Wait, you can't stereotype women as being more suited for housework!"Still, the fact that Baum had such a powerful girl in his work probably did more for the women's liberation movement than against it.I think when this book was written, women's suffrage was a big issue.It sure seems obvious that Baum is addressing some kind of women's issue.Baum seems to be addressing issues more blatantly in this book than he did in his first Oz book.

I thought it was interesting to see the Woggle Bug say, "We can blockade the city and starve it into submission," and Glinda the Good Witch make death threats to the evil Mombi (which looks an awful lot like the word Mom).I think books for kids steer away from these kinds of things now, but I also think these things are important in some kind of way because they show that you've got to be tough on the bad guys sometimes, even though it's a last resort.

Those are just some reflections.The thing you'll get most out of the book if you read it yourself is that it's both funny and fun; a good fairytale.I like the Oz books much better than Harry Potter.I also like Baum's style more than Dahl's (author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).Baum is an impressive writer.(So once again as you might guess, there are some pretty big words in a kid's book, still nothing like Wind in the Willows though.)

Land of Ozby L. Frank Baum
Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum is the first sequel to the wizard of oz and yes I agree that it is in many ways superior to the original. Yes we have no Dorothy and no Lion but the story about Tip, the wooden horse, the tin man and the scare crow is absolutely fabolously written and I found myself more enthralled with this story since many ways it is a better written story with more charachter development and a plot that truly creates a page turner and ones does not want to stop reading since the story is stupendous. I love the illustrations and I can not wait to continue the stories about the land of oz.

The Land of Oz- The Second Book In the Wizard of Oz Series
When I bought The Land of Oz, I opened up a new world of adventure.Little did I know, The Wizard of Oz's author, L. Frank Baum, had written 13 other books after The Wizard of Oz.

The Land of Oz is about a young boy named Tip, who lived with a witch named Mombi.Mombi was a very evil witch and one day she journeyed to an old wizard to get some magical ingredients.While she was gone, Tip constructed a man out of wood and carved a pumpkin and placed it on its head.Then, he set the "pumpkin man" standing out in the street so it would scare old Mombi.When she returned, she wasn't scared but mad at Tip.She decided to try the Powder of Life, an ingredient she had gotten at the wizard's house that would make anything come to life, on the "pumpkin man" to see if it worked.It did and brought the "pumpkin man" to life.Mombi was going to turn Tip into a marble statue in the morning for trying to scare her, so Tip and the newly called Jack Pumpkinhead left to journey to The Emerald City.Jack Pumpkinhead was the first of many new characters to come into the Oz stories.

The reason I would suggest this book is because it is fun.There are adventures and new characters and a surprise close to the end.Also, characters like The Scarecrow, and The Tin Man appear in this book.Dorothy is not in this book because it is kind of a prologue to the next book, Ozma of Oz.

After I finished this book, I realized that I really liked it and would like to read more of the series.As I continued to read the rest of the books, I liked them more and more.As of 7/3/02, I am on Tik-Tok of Oz, which is book 8.As you can see, I'm far in the series and still reading.If you liked The Wizard of Oz, then you will probably like The Land of Oz.

A truly superior sequel
I suppose some would consider it sacrilege and those who only know "The Wizard of Oz" the movie wouldn't believe it, but "TheLand of Oz," the second book in L. Frank Baum's 14-book series, isclearly superior to "The Wizard of Oz." No Dorothy, no Toto, noLion: no problem. This book is sensationally entertaining. Whereas thefirst book seemed more interested in presenting marvelous characters andcreatures scene by quick scene (which it does well) than in delighting uswith what they say and do, "The Land of Oz" is a tour de forcethat will keep a smile permanently affixed to your face (like JackPumpkinhead!). Baum's style is enormously improved; he supplies moredetail, more endearing dialog, more fun, more edge, more sides toeverything. The characters and creatures are marvelous: the aforermentionedJack Pumpkinhead (my favorite), the Highly Magnified Woggle-Bug, the gump(two sofas, an antlered animal head, palm leaves and broom brought to lifeas a flying "thing"), the Saw Horse, the army of girls who takeover the Emerald City and make servants of the men (in 1904!), Mombi thewitch (far more interesting than the Wicked Witch of the West), and on andon, including more vivid portrayals of the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman.Overall, considerably better than the first book, which is good in its ownright, and simply one of my favorite books, one which can be loved byadults (as I am) or children. If you read only one Oz book (OK, you have toread the first one, but if you read only two) include "The Land ofOz".

A Children's Book? Define Child...
The Land of Oz is..well..WOW. It definately is not just a sappy children's book, it's funny, and truly amusing. Don't call it a child's book, call it a book for all audiences. ... Read more

Book Description
Beginning with a glance back over the entire history of research and commentary on the Oz books, this work is organized in three main sections. Essays in the Origins of Oz examine Frank Baum's personal history and unlock the mystery of one of the most bizarre episodes in the Oz books. The World of Oz looks at three very different aspects of Baum's world: its concept of home and family, its sense of humor, and its relationship to its young readers. Oz on Screen features both the silent films Baum produced himself and MGM's classic movie The Wizard of Oz. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Oz gets full scholarly approach
This collection of nine essays published by the Childrenýs Literature Association takes a scholarly approach to L. Frank Baumýs popular childrenýs books and the 1939 MGM movie. Written primarily by college and university professors in English, Literature, History, and Film, these well-written and insightful articles provide detailed analysis of the Oz phenomena in American culture.

The book divides the essays into three sections: Origins of Oz; The World of Oz; and, Oz On Stage And Screen. There is also an Introductory review article which looks back on the first one hundred years of Oz criticism called ýAnalyzing Oz: The First Hundred Years.ý

The essays look at Baumýs frontier days in South Dakota, the origins of his vegetable characters, the meanings of home and humor in Baumýs works, different schools of Ozian criticism, Fred Stoneýs portrayal of the Scarecrow, Baum as the first filmaker of Oz, and Dorothy as a cultural icon. The text is illustrated with black and white drawings and pictures and each essay has a bibliography of sources.

Reading criticism of Baum and Oz is no where near as much fun as reading the original works themselves. But after you have read Baumýs writings, it is useful to see how historians and academics view the cultural phenomenon that is Oz. ... Read more

Product Description
L. Frank Baum’s novel, The Wizard of Oz, has spawned 39 official sequels, over 100 unofficial sequels, well nearly 40 films, several TV series, music videos, commercials, computer games, radio shows and more. It has received a number of different interpretations: an African-American slant, a Turkish low-budget fantasy, Japanese anime, and American pornography, among others.

This book provides synopses and basic bibliographical information for the forty Oz books in the original series and a number of related books by the Royal Historians of Oz; synopses and credits for live performances (videos and made-for-television performances are included here) based on the Oz books and on Baum’s non-Oz fantasies; comic book and comic strip adaptations of Oz; synopses and credits for radio shows and dramatic performances on audiobook or vinyl records; synopses and credits for theatrical films and shorts; documentaries and educational films; synopses and credits for television series and episodes based on Oz; video and computer games; useful websites; and short scenes on television or in movies that have an Oz element. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A comprehensive guide to all Wizard products
L. Frank Baum's Wizard Of Oz has created 39 official sequels, over a hundred unofficial sequels, nearly 40 films, and much more: so any collector seeking a comprehensive guide to all Wizard products must have The Wizard Of Oz Catalog to keep track of all the formats and take-offs. All forty Oz books in the original series, related books, films, videos, comics, radio shows and more are cataloged in entries which cover performers, plots, and more. No price guides, but this is intended as a catalog of Oz products.

All I Ever Wanted To Know....
...about Oz in all its permutations. This compendium of Oz knowledge was not only educational in all of its entries but it was fun to read, too. Sherman imbues his catalog with critics reviews, editorial comments and asides that make the factual information come alive with the Hollywood of old and today's fascination with the movie, books, and memorabilia.

There are capsule synopses of all the original books along with movie, radio, stage, advertising, and computer game adaptations as well as actor/production credits. Pictures and illustrations give an insight into the characters and the graphics of the time.

Some of the interesting info covered in the book:
1. Baum intended to break many of the unofficial "rules" for children's fairy tales
2. David's Lynch's movie WILD AT HEART staring Nic Cage is a retelling of the Wizard of Oz story.
3. Baum's widow decided to reject Disney's offer to purchase the rights to make an animated movie and instead sold the rights to an animator who failed to bring the story to the screen.

I bought this as a gift for a friend and wound up keeping it for myself.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A Spiritual Journey
I have participated in a workshop led by Jesse Stewart and am now planning of leading a group using the book as a basis for discussion. I think the author's insights are quite significant for anyone and all ages as we go through life's trnsitions. The Wizard of Oz is known by all and this makes the concepts easier to understand. It is looking at a child's story thorugh an adults' eyes.

An Important Tool
This book lays out wonderfully the metaphor of our life's journey. It is an important tool. I thoroughly enjoyed the interpretation and particularly liked the spatial models.

Very readable for a high school student
It was very readable and thought provoking. I found it opening doors to making a spiritual journey out of daily living.

Thorough
Initially I thought this might be a flip review of the movie the Wizard of Oz, but rather found it to be a thorough textbook and very helpful to me and my practice. And the mandala made great sense at the end. I would liketo use it as a group study book.

"Profoundly helpful."M. Scott Peck
"Secrets of the Yellow Brick Road by Jesse Stewart is brilliant inconception and execution. This elucidation of a great myth is exciting,original and profoundly helpful." M. Scott Peck - author The Road LessTraveled ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Customer Reviews (8)

Follow, Follow, Follow, Follow...
This book came up as an Amazon recommended read for me.That was okay.As I collect everything on the Oz film, and also practice Ashtanga, I might have purchased this book, anyway. However:this is a very simply-written collection of thoughts, presented in a non-linear fashion. I found the non-linear approach to be confusing.I feel it bypasses some important elements of the story. I still think Salmon Rushdie's book is the best and most comprehensive approach to understanding the film.

I don't find any outright references to yoga here, nor do I see any sort of outline regarding how about the philosophy behind yoga is tied into the author's ideas.

This is a spiritual book, based on the author's personal philosophical views of the film.I would recommend it to a young person, someone who is just getting acquainted with symbolism - and who has actually seen the MGM movie!There are a surprising number of young people who have never read "The Wizard of Oz", and who have never seen the film!If you are new to the film, you would enjoy the fun guidance this book could bring to your life.

A clever use of a wonderfulAmerican Icon
I have read several books of this type, and Mr Main's was the best thought out and most realistically useful of them all. His use of the Oz icons was brilliant and the insights he has are simple and to the point and dead on accurate.

Spiritual Gold Along The Yellow Brick Road
Darren John Main is a Yoga teacher from the West Coast who has a gift for putting complex ideas into simple, down to earth language.

I have downloaded all of his available talks (which are presently available for free from his web site http://darrenmain.com/)and have listened to them countless times and have read his "Yoga And The Path Of The Urban Mystic as well.

This book, which I believe was his first, uses the "Oz" characters as metaphors along the spiritual journey. I found his analysis of the characters to be believable and useful in terms of being able to apply them to my own understanding of the complexities of life.

Darren uses examples from his own and other's lives to illustrate the points throughout the book. This makes it a very "real life" type book rather than just philosophical speculation.

Though this is a fairly short book it is filled with endless treasures of insights.

Highly recommended!!!!!

Namaste

A Totally Amazing Book You'll Enjoy
I first read the author's other book, "Yoga and the Path of the Urban Mystic" and was totally blown away by his insight and wisdom.I've read (and continue to read) as much as I can on subjects of yoga and spirituality and was so impressed by this book that I wanted to find another by the same author.I was frankly not too excited when I saw that his other book was entitled "Spritual Journeys along the Yellow Brick Road."I'm probably the only former kid in America who didn't like "The Wizard of Oz" and had to force myself to see the whole movie from beginning to end.I'm also a fussy reader, and had to decide if I really wanted to read this book.The other reviews posted on this site were so positive I decided to give it a chance.I was not in the least disappointed!!I would never have thought of the "Wizard of Oz" as a spritual journey, but the author clearly and capably demonstrates this for his readers.This book was not only highly entertaining and a very enjoyable reading experience, but it teaches many valuable lessons without seeming to do so.Whether or not you are a fan of the movie or the Frank Baum book, I would highly and unquestioningly recommend this book to anyone who is on his/her own spiritual journey, or to anyone who just wants to have a good time enjoying a great book.

Making Enlightenment Fun
I found Darren's honesty in telling his stories and relating them to another story that we all know and love a wonderful way to bring spiritual principle to daily living.I have always loved The Wizard of Oz, has have so many millions, but I love the connection of the characters to deeper aspects of myself.A great and fun read for all. ... Read more

Book Description
This centennial edition, elegantly designed for all ages, includes rare and illuminating materials of interest to both first-time Oz readers and bibliophiles alike.

Essays about L. Frank Baum's classic, its impact and enduring appeal accompany the text, and feature revealing critical and biographical information.

This is the first in a series of definitive new and collectible Oz editions prepared in conjunction with The Baum Family Trust. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Ozarific! Dig those William Stout illustrations!
Seriously folks, what a package. Gore Vidal! Ray Bradbury! John Updike! All writing about Oz. Filled with nice illustrations and a LEGIBLE , AFFORDABLE, REPRODUCTION OF THE ORIGINAL BOOK. ... Read more

Book Description
Dorothy and her dog, Toto, are whisked to the magical land of Oz where they meet the Tin Woodsman, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion. Mike Cavallaro transforms L. Frank Baum's world of Oz into a manga-influenced graphic novel. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A fun new take on a classic novel!
A glance will tell you that the artwork in this adaptation is gorgeous to look at -- that the appealing character designs, bold layouts, saturated blacks and expressive style will be pleasing to page through.What's less obvious but just as true is that this is, in fact, as faithful and engrossing an adaptation as you could ask for in 144 pages.Cavallaro managed to condense "Oz" without losing the details, pacing or flavor of the original -- I hope he signs on for more projects with Puffin Graphics, as this was a delight to read! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

85 years of Oz Magic; intro to movie, books; color photos
Full of color photos and interesting information on people, the creation of Oz, Baum, Thompson, films, clubs, adaptations, writings about Oz ... Read more