The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

About the Book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a 'modernized fairy tale, depicts the adventures of Dorothy, a young farm girl from Kansas, who is carried away by a cyclone to the magical land of Oz, along with her dog Toto. She courageously decides to find her way back home and encounters many memorable characters on her incident-filled journey.

The unforgettable characters in this tale include the cheerful Munchkins, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and Cowardly Lion, of Oz, the Good Witch of the North and Glinda, the Good Witch of the South. Described as 'America's greatest and best loved homegrown fairytale' by the Library of Congress, this book is a delightful story with many subtle life lessons.

This edition includes timelines of the author's life and the original year of publication, which provide the literary, historical and cultural context of the book.

About the Author Lyman Frank Baum (1856 1919) was an American writer. best known for his work The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its 13 sequels which describe fantastical characters and situations in the magical land of Oz. He had a passion for the theatre and was keen to see his work converted to the stage or as film adaptations. This came true with the 1939 film version of his book. He wrote many other novels, short stories and scripts, some of which depict gadgets such as television, mobile phones and computers, much before they were invented.

Introduction Folk lore, 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 than all other human creations.

Yet the old-time fairy tale, having served for generations, may now be classed as "historical" in the children's library; for the time has come for a series of newer "wonder tales" in which the stereotyped genie, dwarf and fairy are eliminated, together with all the horrible and blood-curdling incident devised by their authors to point a fearsome moral to each tale. Modern education includes morality; therefore the modern child seeks only entertainment in its wonder-tales and gladly dispenses with all disagreeable incident.

**Contents and Sample Pages**