Annotated Wizard of Oz (Oz Series #1) by L. Frank Baum, Michael Patrick Hearn, W. W. Denslow

From the Publisher

The "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is the quintessential American fairy tale, but it is also a controversial children's book. This annoted edition illuminates the numerous contemporary references, provides character sources, and explains the actual meaning of the word "Oz". A facsimile of the rare 1900 first edition appears with the original drawings by W.W. Denslow, as well as 25 previously unpublished illustrations. There is a bibliography of L. Frank Baum's published work, every notable "Oz" edition and the stage and cinematic productions from 1939's "The Wizard of Oz", to the 1974 Broadway hit "The Wiz".

Library Journal

We're off to see the Wizard! Many readers of this annotated version of arguably the most famous American fairly tale will be surprised to learn that the 1939 MGM movie musical was based on a best-selling children's book written 100 years ago; far more readers will be astonished to find out that The Wizard was followed by a good 40 sequels, many as popular as the first Oz tale by Baum and illustrator Denslow. This volume reproduces Denslow's color drawings from the first edition (1900) and includes previously unpublished illustrations. Despite the popularity of that work, whose copyright author and illustrator shared, the two never collaborated again. As the self-styled Royal Historian of Oz, Baum went on to write 13 more Oz adventures; his mantel was then passed to Ruth Plumly Thompson, editor of the Philadelphia Public Ledger's Sunday children's page, who produced an additional 19 titles. John R. Neill, illustrator of all the Oz books but the first, then wrote three more sequels, and since his death in 1943 (Baum died in 1919), numerous others have tried their hand at an Oz story. So powerful was the book's spell that its Russian translator, Aleksandr Volkov, wrote several sequels of his own in Russian for Soviet citizens. Hearn, described by the publisher as "the world's leading Oz scholar," mines The Wizard in this wide-ranging assay of the multifarious strands that fed the imaginations of Baum and Denslow. His explanations and conjectures are enhanced by commentary from such luminaries as Salman Rushdie and Gore Vidal. Of comparable weight to the annotations are the extensive biographical sketches of Baum and Denslow, which elucidate the era in which the book was conceived. Theannotations can wander at times, perhaps unavoidably, into tenuous speculation or somewhat irrelevant asides, yet the book is invaluable in pointing out discrepancies that generations of children have wondered about (why the Munchkins live in the east of in some of the Oz books, at other times in the west). And those who know both book and film will delight in discovering why, e.g., the book's Silver Shoes became the film's Ruby Slippers. Hearn, unlike Martin Gardner, the author of The Annotated Alice (LJ 12/99), had many sequels and a film to treat. His painstaking annotation shows us Baum's Wizard as a whiz of a wiz if ever a wiz there was. Highly recommended. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/00.]--Edward Cone, New York Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Booknews

The first striking thing about this book is its elegant dust jacket made to look like a copper plate. But the eye candy stretches past the front cover, nearly every page with either color illustrations or distinctive frames, fleurons, and figures around the text. Not surprising to those who've taken some literature classes, the annotations following a page of text are often far longer than whatever bit of text they illustrate. But if the reader should find academicism beside the point, annotations are easy to skip because Baum's story is written in larger type. This edition is for both kids and kiddie litters, the latter interested in such tidbits as the Dorothy-type farmgirl character called Dot, Dolly, and Doris in other works by Frank Baum, and the reigning theory that Dorothy lived in Kansas, yes, but more specifically, Topeka. Reprinted from the 1900 edition with many of the original drawings by W.W. Denslow. Oversize: 9.5x10.5<">. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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