Works by 'Wizard of Oz' author Frank Baum that you should read

“A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others.” This quote by L. Frank Baum is an echo of his life; a life in which he fascinated children with his tales and stories and made them fall in love with him. The book ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ has a distinct memory in all our minds. Most of us have read it when young and have imagined the beautiful and enchanting world that Baum created.

An American author chiefly famous for his children’s books, Baum wrote 14 novels in the Oz series, plus 41 other novels, 83 short stories, over 200 poems, and at least 42 scripts. Throughout his life, his only purpose was to write books in order to “please children”. The 1939 adaptation of Baum’s first Oz book became a landmark of 20th century cinema.

So, let’s visit some popular works by L. Frank Baum.

(Photo: Wikipedia)

The story chronicles the adventures of a young farm girl named Dorothy in the magical Land of Oz, after she and her pet dog Toto are swept away from their Kansas home by a cyclone. Its groundbreaking success and the success led Baum to write thirteen additional Oz books that serve as official sequels to the first story.

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American Fairy Tales is the title of a collection of twelve fantasy stories by Baum.The first edition of the book had an unusual and striking design: each page was furnished with a broad illustrated border done in pen-and-ink by Seymour (American artist), which took up more than half the surface of the page, like a medieval illuminated manuscript.

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The story revolves around Santa Claus and how he became to be called so. As a baby, he found in the Forest of Burzee by Ak, the Master Woodsman of the World (a supreme immortal), and placed in the care of the lioness Shiegra; but thereupon adopted by the Wood Nymph, Necile.

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The events of the book alternate between Noland and Ix, two neighboring regions to the Land of Oz, and Baum himself commented this was the best book he had written. The book was made into the 1914 film ‘The Magic Cloak of Oz’.

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The book was published under the pen name "Schuyler Staunton", one of Baum's several pseudonyms. It is an adventure novel that combines elements of political intrigue, melodrama, and mystery story. Baum set the book in Brazil in 1889, during the revolution that brought the Empire of Brazil to its end.

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The book was Baum's first effort at writing specifically for an audience of adolescent boys. It is told in the first person, by Sam Steele who is the son of a sea captain. His father is reported killed in a shipwreck, and Sam is quickly cheated of his inheritance. Now an orphan, he meets his maternal uncle, Naboth Perkins, another sea captain and ship-owner and together the two set sail in the Pacific trade.

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Baum published the novel under the pen name "Schuyler Staunton" and set it far afield, in Baluchistan. In the novel, Baluchistan is still an independent state, though the region had fallen under the sway of the British Empire in the later nineteenth century.

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The book is an Egyptian romance of the present time, full of the charm of the land of the Nile and dramatic in plot and setting. It is described as a most creditable romance vibrant with human nature and the mystery and fascination of the East.

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