The Magic of Oz, L. Frank Baum
The Magic of Oz, L. Frank Baum
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The Magic of Oz

Author: L. Frank Baum

Narrator: John Heller

Unabridged: 3 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Ascent Audio

Published: 03/26/2013

Categories: Fiction, Classic


Synopsis

A young Munchkin boy, Kiki Aru, discovers a forbidden magical word in his father's laboratory while exploring one day and gets himself into a world of trouble. Since Princess Ozma had decreed that magic was forbidden to be practice by anyone except Glinda the Good Witch, Oz has been lacking in magical adventures and Kiki quickly changes that. Kiki uses the magic word, "pyrzqxgl," to transform himself and others into animals, including an exiled Nome, Ruggedo. Ruggedo and Kiki plan an invasion of Oz, changing people to animals and vice versa to get their way. It falls into the hands of the Wizard to start changing things back to normal, with Dorothy there to assist him. They encounter several other familiar faces during their adventure, including Cap'n Bill and Trot.
L. Frank Baum (1856-1919) was an American author of children's books, most famous for his "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." Baum wrote 13 sequels to his first Oz book and still has a huge fan base to this day. "The Magic of Oz" was the 13th book in the Oz series and was published one month after Baum's death in 1919.

About L. Frank Baum

L. Frank Baum was born in 1856 in Chittenango, New York, to oil magnate Benjamin Ward Baum and Cynthia (Stanton) Baum, a women's rights activist. He was privately tutored at home and spent two years at Peekskill Military Academy.

In 1873, Baum became a reporter for the New York World. Two years later, he founded the New Era weekly in Pennsylvania. He also worked as a poultry farmer with B. W. Baum and Son and edited the Poultry Record and wrote columns for New York Farmer and Dairyman. In New York, Baum acted under the name George Brooks with May Roberts and the Sterling Comedy in plays that he had written. He owned an opera house in 1882-83 and toured with his own repertory company. In 1882 he married Maud Gage; they had four sons.

In 1883, Baum returned to Syracuse to work in the family oil business. His subsequent endeavor was not successful; his South Dakota general store, Baum's Bazaar, failed, and from 1888 to 1890, he ran the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer. Baum then moved to Chicago and tried various sales positions. In 1897, he founded the National Association of Window Trimmers and edited Show Window from 1897 to 1902.

Baum made his debut as a novelist in 1897 with Mother Goose in Prose, which was based on stories he told to his own children. Its last chapter introduced the farm girl Dorothy. In 1899, Baum published Father Goose: His Book, which quickly became a bestseller. His next work was The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the story of little Dorothy Gale from Kansas, who is transported by a twister to a magical realm. The book was published at Baum's own expense.

The first of the Oz books was made into a musical in 1901. Since its appearance, the story has been filmed many times. Other novels in the series are The Marvelous Land of Oz, Ozma of Oz, Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz , The Road to Oz, The Emerald City of Oz, The Patchwork Girl of Oz, Tik-Tok of Oz, The Scarecrow of Oz, The Lost Princess of Oz, The Tin Woodman of Oz, The Magic of Oz, Glinda of Oz, and The Visitors from Oz, which was adapted from a comic strip by Baum.

During his career, Baum wrote more than sixty books, some of them for adults, including The Last Egyptian. He also gathered material for works aimed at teenagers during his motoring tours across the country and travels in Europe and Egypt.

Born with a congenitally weak heart, Baum was ill through much of his life. He died on May 6, 1919, in Hollywood, where he lived in a house he called Ozcot.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Shoshana on March 18, 2012

This is a good classic Oz story. There is some wandering around, an overarching (though ludicrously unimportant) goal (really? you wrote a whole book about looking for birthday presents for Ozma?), my favorite villain (Ruggedo all the way! although I really enjoy Kaliko's three trial rooms in Rinkit......more

Goodreads review by Jesse on January 02, 2023

Definitely suffered a bit being read directly after The Emerald City of Oz, in my estimation one of the series' strongest, as this late installation—one of the few I'd never read before—felt particularly weak. Bonus points for the a generous helping of the prickly Glass Cat (as an adult I'm clearly......more

Goodreads review by Roman on August 27, 2021

This one was a pretty fun adventure with a bunch of different plot lines happening and fun twists of the story with plenty of familiar characters to keep it fun. Ozma birthday is coming up and a party must be thrown! Meanwhile a couple of baddies are trying to turn the whole forest of wild beasts ag......more

Goodreads review by Georgia on March 13, 2024

This books was ok. Not my favourite within the series......more

Goodreads review by Grace on July 02, 2016

Another cute Oz story, but not at all my favorite. The plot was thin (thinner than usual - the "main plot" was Dorothy and Trot going on a quest to find a birthday present for Ozma.) The subplot had more potential - a selfish Munchkin boy who gets ahold of a magic word of transformation, and he relu......more