L. Frank Baum - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

Table of Contents

From the Pages of
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

You are welcome, most noble Sorceress, to the land of Munchkins. We are so grateful to you for having killed the wicked Witch of the East, and for setting our people free from bondage. (page 22)

While Dorothy was looking earnestly into the queer, painted face of the Scarecrow, she was surprised to see one of the eyes slowly wink at her. She thought she must have been mistaken, at first, for none of the scarecrows in Kansas ever wink. (page 35)

No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home. (page 42)

I shall take the heart, returned the Tin Woodman; for brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world. (page 55)

If you dont mind, Ill go with you, said the Lion, for my life is simply unbearable without a bit of courage. (page 63)

They now came upon more and more of the big scarlet poppies, and fewer and fewer of the other flowers; and soon they found themselves in the midst of a great meadow of poppies. Now it is well known that when there are many of these flowers together their odor is so powerful that anyone who breathes it falls asleep, and if the sleeper is not carried away from the scent of the flowers he sleeps on and on forever. (pages 78-80)

You killed the Witch of the East and you wear the silver shoes, which bear a powerful charm. There is now but one Wicked Witch left in all this land, and when you can tell me she is dead I will send you back to Kansasbut not before. (pages 108-109)

This made Dorothy so very angry that she picked up the bucket of water that stood near and dashed it over the Witch, wetting her from head to foot. (page 127)

As the Monkey King finished his story Dorothy looked down and saw the green, shining walls of the Emerald City before them. She wondered at the rapid flight of the Monkeys, but was glad the journey was over. (page 144)

I am Oz, the Great and Terrible, said the little man, in a trembling voice, but dont strike meplease dont!and Ill do anything you want me to. (page 150)

Cant you give me brains? asked the Scarecrow.

You dont need them. You are learning something every day. A baby has brains, but it doesnt know much. Experience is the only thing that brings knowledge, and the longer you are on earth the more experience you are sure to get. (page 154)

But I dont want to live here, cried Dorothy. I want to go to Kansas, and live with Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. (page 174)

Dorothy said nothing. Oz had not kept the promise he made her, but he had done his best, so she forgave him. As he said, he was a good man, even if he was a bad Wizard. (page 182)

When they were all quite presentable they followed the soldier girl into a big room where the Witch Glinda sat upon a throne of rubies.

(page 207)

Dorothy now took Toto up solemnly in her arms, and having said one last good-bye she clapped the heels of her shoes together three times, saying, Take me home to Aunt Em! (page 211)

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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was first published in 1900.

Published in 2005 by Barnes & Noble Classics with new Introduction,
Notes, Biography, Chronology, Inspired By, Comments & Questions,
and For Further Reading.

Introduction, Notes, and For Further Reading

Copyright 2005 by J. T. Barbarese.

Note on L. Frank Baum, The World of L. Frank Baum
and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz , Inspired by The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ,
and Comments & Questions
Copyright 2005 by Barnes & Noble, Inc.

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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

ISBN-13: 978-1-59308-221-5 ISBN-10: 1-59308-221-5

eISBN : 978-1-411-43355-7

LC Control Number 2005920760

Produced and published in conjunction with:
Fine Creative Media, Inc.
322 Eighth Avenue
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Michael J. Fine, President and Publisher

Printed in the United States of America
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FIRST PRINTING

L. Frank Baum

When Lyman Frank Baum asked Maud Gage to marry him in 1882, the girls mother, a pioneering feminist, fiercely opposed the union. She apparently had good reason: The privileged son of a wealthy oilman, Baum led an itinerant life, uncertain of his future career; at the time, he was acting in a touring theatrical production funded by his father. Maud nevertheless went through with the marriage and found her husband to be a passionate, hardworking dreamer. Like his contemporary Mark Twain, Baum would reach the height of literary success only to have its fruits foiled by ill-timed and often fanciful investments.

If character was destiny for Baum, then early aspirations foretold a future in literature. Born in Chittenango, New York, in 1856, Frank spent his childhood on the Baum family estate, where he was given a printing press and created a family newspaper, the Rose Lawn Home Journal , with his brother. Despite a congenital heart ailment, Baum was quite active as a young man. He began writing professional newspaper articles, plays, poetry, and even a primer on breeding Hamburg chickens in the years following the American Civil War.

When his father and older brother died in 1887, the familys fortunes declined, and Baum and his wife moved to Aberdeen in the Dakota Territory, where Mauds brothers and sisters were living. Baum started a general store, Baums Bazaar, where local children gathered for candy and the imaginative stories Baum told for their entertainment. But their generous extensions of credit to drought-plagued ranchers and farmers forced the couple out of business in 1890. An ill-timed foray into newspaper editing and other publishing ventures left them bankrupt and poised for another move, this time to Chicago. To make ends meet, Frank worked as a reporter and, with good success, as a traveling salesman for the glassware company Pitkin and Brooks.

Although Baums four sons had long enjoyed their fathers fantastical stories, Baum did not publish his tales until Mother Goose in Prose appeared in 1897. Its success inspired Father Goose, His Book (1899), which was the best-selling childrens book of the year. But it was the story of a farm girl named Dorothy, first told to his sons and neighborhood children in 1898, that became an instant success and would endure as a perpetual classic. Published as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900, with illustrations by William Wallace Denslow, Baums tale flew out of stores and, when it was staged in 1902, sold out theaters from New York to Chicago.

Thrilled by the novels reception, Baum wrote many sequels to the Oz story and enjoyed considerable financial success. But he also wanted to expand his repertoire beyond stories about Oz. His other books, some published under pen names, include Queen Zixi of Ix (1905), The Fate of a Crown (1905), and the teen series Aunt Janes Nieces (1906 through 1915). While these works enjoyed a healthy readership, failed business choices and his audiences insatiable thirst for more Oz stories, kept him writing sequels until his death.