Thursday, May 15, 2014

Happy Birthday, L. Frank Baum!




L. Frank Baum created the amazing, fantastic, and wonderful world of Oz...a world I loved as a child. I collected all fourteen Oz books and happily read them over and over, especially my three favorites: Ozma of Oz, Tik-Tok of Oz, and Glinda of Oz. Such great reads! I was enchanted by Baum's unique and fun characters: Billina, the talking hen, the Woozy, the Nome King, Tik-Tok, the wind-up mechanical man, Polychrome, the Rainbow King's daughter, Glinda the Sorceress, and of course, Princess Ozma and Dorothy. But most of all, I loved Oz itself. Who wouldn't love a place where books grow on trees, inanimate objects come to life, animals talk, and magic exists? I always wanted to go there--see the Emerald City and Glinda's palace, take a stroll down the yellow brick road, pick a 3-course nut for lunch, visit Miss Cuttenclip and her town of paper dolls as well as the puzzle-piece people of Fuddlecumjig, spin on the Merry-Go-Round Mounts, and hang out with Dorothy and Toto and all their friends.

The Oz books fueled my imagination growing up; rereading his books now is like revisiting childhood. Ray Bradbury once described Oz as a place "where the young stay young and the old grow young forever--these books are for readers of all ages." I couldn't agree more. So, here's to L. Frank Baum and the wonderful world of Oz that he created!

Happy Reading!


4 comments:

  1. Funny how as a kid, the first Oz book was the one I didn't like that much! I guess it wasn't the movie. But I loved the series, and I don't have any idea how many times I read Ozma of Oz. Thanks for the stroll down memory lane! Great post...made me smile today!

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    1. I'm glad. That's what the Oz books always do for me.

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  2. Somehow I don't really remember reading the Oz books as a child. I think I have to remedy that with my kids!

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    1. They've reprinted a lot of them, which is good. I don't know if they can compete with the world of Harry Potter these days, but I always loved them.

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