Little Wizard Stories of Oz [Illustrated]

by L. Frank Baum, John R. Neill (Illustrator), Eltanin Publishing (Editor), J.C. Nusbaum (Introduction)

Overview

Eltanin Publishing's Oz Series - #15

~~ includes ALL the original illustrations (over 50) by John R. Neill, most of them in color, and a new Preface by Oz expert and Eltanin Editor Joseph Nusbaum. ~~

From the Editor's Preface:
"Often overlooked, forgotten, or even unheard of by fans of Baum's other Oz books, the combined Little Wizard Stories of Oz is arguably the unofficial fifteenth Oz book by Baum. The Stories are a set of six tales that were originally published in separate small booklets, each story featuring two titular characters from the other Oz books.

Baum wrote the Little Wizard Stories after he tried to end the Oz series with The Emerald City of Oz in 1910. After a couple years, Baum was facing bankruptcy and disappointing sales in his attempts to start new novel series. In 1913, Baum returned to Oz, publishing both The Patchwork Girl of Oz, the next book in the Oz series, and the six Little Wizard Stories." ...

Eltanin has also published the 14 Oz books by L. Frank Baum, as well as our fully-illustrated version of "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus" including the short story "A Kidnapped Santa Claus". The easiest way to find all of our books is to simply search on "Eltanin Publishing" on the Barnes & Noble website, or use this link: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/?series_id=750146

~~ This book is DRM-free, which means you can buy it and then convert it to other formats for all your ereading devices! ~~

Product Details

BN ID:	2940150977846
Publisher:	Eltanin Publishing
Publication date:	09/03/2015
Series:	Eltanin Publishing's Oz Series , #15
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	7 MB
Age Range:	6 - 8 Years

About the Author

Dorothy, Toto, the Scarecrow, Aunt Em -- where would our national psyche be without The Wonderful Wizard of Oz? L. Frank Baum, who created a story with an indelible, sometimes haunting impression on so many people, led a life that had a fairy-tale quality of its own.

Baum was born in 1856 to a family that had made a fortune in the oil business. Because he had a heart condition, his parents arranged for him to be tutored privately at the family�s Syracuse estate, �Roselawn.� As an adult, though, Baum flourished and failed at a dizzying variety of ventures, from writing plays to a stint with his family�s medicinal oil business (where he produced a potion called �Baum�s Castorine�), to managing a general store, to editing the Aberdeen Pioneer in Aberdeen, South Dakota. In 1897, following his mother-in-law�s advice, Baum wrote down the stories that he told his children. The firm of Way & Williams published the stories under the title Mother Goose in Prose, with illustrations by Maxfield Parrish, and Baum�s career as a writer was launched.

With the publication of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900, Baum gained instant success. The book, lavishly produced and featuring voluptuous illustrations by William Wallace Denslow, was the bestselling children�s book of the year. It also set a new standard for children�s literature. As a commentator for the September 8, 1900 New York Times described it, �The crudeness that was characteristic of the oldtime publications...would now be enough to cause the modern child to yell with rage and vigor...� The reviewer praised the book�s sheer entertainment value (its �bright and joyous atmosphere�) and likened it to The Story of the Three Bears for its enduring value. As the film industry emerged in the following years, few books were as manifestly destined for adaptation, and although it took almost four decades for a movie studio to translate Baum�s vision to film, the 1939 film did for the movies what Baum�s book had done for children�s literature: that is, raised the imaginative and technical bar higher than it had been before.

The loss of parents, the inevitable voyage toward independence, the yearning for home -- in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Baum touched upon a child�s primal experiences while providing a rousing story of adventure. As his health declined, Baum continued the series with 14 more Oz books (his publisher commissioned more by other authors after his death), but none had quite the effect on the reading public that the first one did. Baum died from complications of a stroke in 1919.

Date of Birth:

May 15, 1856

Date of Death:

May 6, 1919

Place of Birth:

Chittenango, New York

Place of Death:

Hollywood, California

Education:

Attended Peekskill Military Academy and Syracuse Classical School