Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The, is the first and most famous book in a series of fantasies written by the American children’s author L. Frank Baum. The book was illustrated by the American illustrator William Wallace Denslow. When it was published in 1900, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was the most lavishly illustrated novel for children of the era. Reviewers especially praised Denslow’s illustrations, including full-page drawings and color images that appeared underneath and alongside the text throughout the work. The book’s popularity, and the musical stage show Baum created from the story in 1902, led to 13 additional “Oz” books. Many other writers, especially the American author Ruth Plumly Thompson, also added to the “Oz” series after Baum’s death in 1919.
In his “Oz” stories, Baum wanted to eliminate the frightening, violent, and moralistic elements that had dominated European fairy tales as published by such writers as Hans Christian Andersen in Denmark and the brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in Germany. Inspired by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) by the English author Lewis Carroll, Baum believed, like Carroll, that children’s literature should entertain rather than teach. Baum wrote his novels in direct language that young readers could easily understand and gave his stories a distinctive American setting.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz tells the story of a little girl named Dorothy who is carried from her Kansas farm home along with her dog, Toto, by a cyclone to the magical land of Oz. There, Dorothy meets a cowardly Lion, a Woodman made of tin, and a Scarecrow made of straw.
The story is full of adventures as Dorothy and the Lion, the Woodman, and the Scarecrow travel to meet the Wizard in the fairy tale city of Oz. There, Dorothy and her friends ask the Wizard to use his powers to grant them special wishes. Dorothy wants to return to her home. The Lion wants courage; the Woodman, a heart; and the Scarecrow, a brain. The Wizard agrees to grant their wishes if the friends can defeat the Wizard’s enemy, the Wicked Witch of the West. They must travel through the southern portion of Oz to consult with Glinda, the Good Witch, before they can receive what they desire. Dorothy returns to a transformed Kansas and a loving reunion with her Auntie Em, while her companions return to the communities that they have been asked to govern.
Baum’s “Oz” stories became classics of children’s literature, but their popularity was increased by the success of the 1939 motion-picture adaptation, called The Wizard of Oz. The film starred Judy Garland as Dorothy, Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow, Bert Lahr as the Lion, and Jack Haley as the Woodman (also called the Tin Man), with Frank Morgan as the Wizard.
