May 16, 2016

Happy Birthday, L. Frank Baum!


Yesterday was L. Frank Baum's birthday. Here is my copy of The Wizard of Oz with my absolute favorite bookmark that I bought from the Etsy store Oops, I Craft My Pants (great name, right?).

Did you know that Baum wrote fifteen Oz books?

1. Wonderful Wizard of Oz
2. Marvelous Land of Oz
3. Ozma of Oz
4. Dorothy & the Wizard in Oz
5. The Road to Oz
6. The Emerald City of Oz
7. The Patchwork Girl of Oz
8. Tik-Tok of Oz
9. Scarecrow of Oz
10. Rinkitink in Oz
11. Lost Princess of Oz
12. Tin Woodman of Oz
13. Magic of Oz
14. Glinda of Oz
15. Royal Book of Oz (co-authored)

Additional authors have added volumes beyond that, but that's quite the series.


I must admit I've only read The Wizard of Oz and Glinda of Oz, though I can brag that I've actually been to the Wizard of Oz museum in the tiny town of Wamego, Kansas. It's very small-town adorable and they display a lot of memorabilia from the book and movie's fan base. Travel tip: if you go, across the street you'll find a yellow brick road which leads to an old home that's been converted to a bakery. The pastries are delicious!

If you reread the book, take note at how many parallels there are to Harry Potter (I've been meaning to publish an article on this for years but life keeps getting in the way).

Happy belated birthday, Mr. Baum!

Here is my favorite quote from the book: “Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't you think?”

Which Oz book or character is your favorite? Have you been to the Oz museum?

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