Thompson wrote a book a year from 1921 to 1939, adding 19 titles to the series before growing weary of the annual task. But the second Royal Historian won many loyal followers, and the Oz books continued to appear regularly even during the lean Depression years. Her tone was often more whimsical than his, and she enjoyed introducing elements of international culture-the Far East, the Middle East, Europe-to Baum’s distinctively American milieu. Thompson’s writing style was markedly different from Baum’s. ![]() With the approval of Baum’s widow, Maud, they engaged a talented young Philadelphia writer, Ruth Plumly Thompson, to continue the Oz books. By the time of his death, he had written 14 full-length Oz novels, the last two of which, The Magic of Oz (1919) and Glinda of Oz (1920), were published posthumously.īaum’s publishers, who had changed their name to Reilly & Lee in 1919, were unwilling to let the series die with him. While Baum continued to write series books for both boys and girls under a number of pseudonyms, Sky Island was his last attempt to write a fantasy novel about anything except Oz. He returned to Oz in a big way in 1913 with not only a new full-length novel, The Patchwork Girl of Oz-a great fan favorite to this day-but also a set of six short Little Wizard Stories of Oz to introduce Dorothy and her friends to younger readers. When his next two fantasy novels, The Sea Fairies (1911) and Sky Island (1912), yielded underwhelming sales, Baum saw the writing on the wall. But Baum had begun to feel creatively confined by the expectation of an annual Oz book, and tried to finish the series with The Emerald City of Oz (1910), which ended with Dorothy, Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, and Toto living happily in fairyland.Īs intent as Baum was on telling new kinds of stories, however, he had underestimated the determination of his child readers. The Wizard reappeared in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz (1908), and The Road to Oz (1909) included Toto’s long-awaited return. ![]() As delighted as children were to read more about the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, they bemoaned the absence of Dorothy, whom Baum brought back in Ozma of Oz (1907), one of the most popular books in the series. It was the first book put out by the new firm of Reilly & Britton, which had formed for the express purpose of publishing the first sequel to The Wizard of Oz. Baum and Denslow had parted ways due to creative differences, and the new novel was illustrated by the young artist John R. The rest is history The Wizard of Oz has never been out of print and has sold untold millions of copies.īaum returned to Oz in 1904 with The Marvelous Land of Oz. t will indeed be strange if there be a normal child who will not enjoy the story.” Baum’s text and the fanciful illustrations of W. The story has humor and here and there stray bits of philosophy that will be a moving power on the child mind and will furnish fields of study and investigation for the future students and professors of psychology…. The New York Times deemed it “ingeniously woven out of commonplace material…. Hill Company, was an instant hit, becoming the bestselling children’s book of the year. ![]() The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), published by the George M. Well before the days of international media conglomerates and technologically accelerated word-of-mouth, the Oz books were the Harry Potter series of their time. It all began with a children’s novel published by an obscure Chicago outfit at the dawn of a new century.
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