Oz

“Dorothy is American.”

source: Oz and Ends

When the teacher called her name to try out for the play, Lin passed, saying that at the time she didn’t feel so much “angry, as stupid.” I can imagine that happening among the kids at my school. Children in the early elementary grades are mighty rigid about the “right” way to do things. But would...

Published Tue, Nov 3

“Why is that great Lion with you?”

source: Oz and Ends

So, when they came to a good-sized farmhouse, Dorothy walked boldly up to the door and knocked. “We wish to pass the night with you, if you will allow us,” answered Dorothy; “and the Lion is my friend and comrade, and would not hurt you for the world.”

Published Tue, Oct 13

The Twenty-First of This Month

source: Oz and Ends

L. Frank Baum almost certainly never intended people to know that Ozma had a birthday on 21 August. Throughout The Road to Oz, published one hundred years ago, characters refer only to the party planned for “the twenty-first of this month." But earlier in the book Dorothy mentions that it's A...

Published Thu, Aug 20

Stylin’ on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

source: Oz and Ends

The Design Inspiration collected depictions of Dorothy and her companions along the Yellow Brick Road in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from twenty-three different illustrators. They appear to be influenced largely by: the 1939 MGM movie. a wish to break expectations of what these characte...

Published Mon, Aug 3

Dorothy Meets Her Match

source: Oz and Ends

Don't know." Dorothy watched the boy dig. . . . "What are you going to do?" she inquired. Dig," said he. But you must know something," declared Dorothy, getting provoked. I can't say I do," replied Dorothy, remembering her present difficulties. No one knows everything, Dorothy," he said.

Published Fri, Jul 10

Opinion: "I like when Dorothy landed in Oz"

source: Oz and Ends

I like when Dorothy met the Scarecrow and he woke up and winked at her and started talking. It was funny that the Scarecrow said that he doesn’t have a brain and wants to find the wizard with Dorothy and maybe he’ll get a brain. And the Scarecrow says because he is made of straw he doesn’t get hurt a...

Published Sat, Jun 20

The Road to Oz at 100

source: Oz and Ends

On Wednesday I mentioned my recent article on the big plot problem in Baum's previous Oz book, Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz. That adventure puts Dorothy and her companions in terrible danger, then rescues them magically with no preparation.

Published Fri, Jun 19

Humbugs Inside the Earth

source: Oz and Ends

Yesterday I mentioned my article on Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz in the latest Baum Bugle. Here is a passage from the book itself, as L. Frank Baum has his usual fun with authority figures. “We don’t have to prove it,” answered Dorothy, indignantly. “If you had any sense at all you’d known it was th...

Published Thu, Jun 18