Most people are familiar with the land of Oz by way of the classic 1939 film. But the film was based on only the first of fourteen books about Oz in which Baum developed his vision of a socialist paradise and which garnered an immense and loyal following. Three of the novels are collected here. The Wizard of Oz (1900) introduces Dorothy, who arrives from Kansas and meets the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion, and a host of other characters. The Emerald City of Oz (1910) finds Dorothy, Aunt Em, and Uncle Henry coming to Oz just as the wicked Nome King is plotting to conquer its people. In Baum's final novel, Glinda of Oz (1920), Dorothy and Princess Ozma try to prevent a battle between the Skeezers and the Flatheads. Tapping into a deeply rooted desire in himself and his readers to live in a peaceful country in which relationships were based not on commodity exchange but on the sharing of talents and gifts, Baum's imaginative creation, like all great utopian literature, holds out the possibility for change.

 

This book features in the following series: Penguin Twentieth Century Classics, Wizard Of Oz .

There are 368 pages in this book. This book was published 1999 by Penguin Books Ltd .

Ruth Plumly Thompson was an American children's author who wrote many novels set in L. Frank Baum's fictional land of Oz. Sibylle von Olfers is the author of the original German folk tale, Etwas von den Wurzelkindem, which sold 800, 000 copies in 1906 and exactly a century later Sieglinde Schoen Smith's quilted interpretation, Mother Earth & Her Children won the top prize at America's most prestigious quilt show. Jack Zipes, an acknowledged expert on folklore, has translated the text.