The Royal Book of Oz, L. Frank Baum
The Royal Book of Oz, L. Frank Baum
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The Royal Book of Oz

Author: L. Frank Baum

Narrator: Shannon McManus

Unabridged: 4 hr 54 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Ascent Audio

Published: 03/26/2013


Synopsis

Professor Wogglebug gets the characters of Oz thinking about their genealogy and where they came from because he wants to write 'The Royal Book of Oz,' recording all this information. This topic especially upsets the Scarecrow, as he knows that he was discovered by Dorothy hanging from a beanpole in a cornfield and he thinks that this mean he can't possibly have a family history. Woggleburg agrees and hurts Scarecrow's feelings by noting that because of Dorothy's discovery, Scarecrow has no family tree and should get the slightest mention in their Royal Book of Oz. Scarecrow decides to go on an adventure to find out more about his past and ventures down below Oz to learn more. He winds up in the Land of the Silver Islands whose people resemble the Chinese and who greet him with cheers welcoming back the Emperor. Scarecrow then begins learning about his unknown past life and his importance among the the people of the Silver Islands. While Scarecrow is away, Dorothy notices his absence and embarks on her own adventures to find him. United at last, they must work together to return to Oz.
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 Royal Book of Oz" was the first book posthumously attributed to Baum, and was actually written by Ruth Plumly Thompson. It is the 15th book in the Oz series.

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

I received an advanced reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers. I've always loved the wizard of oz and the return to oz films and so I leapt at the chance to read one of the original books. This book wasn't as great a delight as I had hoped an......more

Goodreads review by Cortney

This book, in most forms, is credited to L. Frank Baum, but The Royal Book of Oz was written by Thompson after Baum's death. But even without having been told this, nothing could have been more obvious than Baum's absence upon reading the book. If the writing style alone hadn't been a dead giveaway,......more