Who doesnât know Volkovâs fairy tale about the girl Ellie, who got into the Magic Land? But not everyone knows that in reality Volkovâs work is just a free retelling of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written by Lymen Frank Baum. In addition to this tale, Baum dedicated to the universe of Oz thirteen more works, in addition, other, no less interesting children's tales came out from his pen.
Baum Lyman Frank: a biography of the early years
Frank was born in May 1856 in the cooper family of the small American town of Chittenango. Due to heart problems in the baby, the doctors predicted a short life for him - 3-4 years, but, to everyone's surprise, the boy survived all his brothers and sisters.
Shortly after Frank was born, his father became rich and was able to provide his children with the best conditions for growing up. Baum's whole childhood passed on a family farm, where private teachers were engaged with him.
Having taken a great interest in books, Baum soon read his fatherâs entire huge library, which aroused his pride. Baum's favorite authors were Dickens and Thackeray.
In 1868, the boy was sent to the military academy in Peekskill. True, Frank soon persuaded his parents to take him home.
Once, a guy received a miniature printing press for his newspaper from his fatherâs birthday. Together with his brother, they began to publish a family newspaper. The home newspaper Baumov published not only chronicles of family life, but also the first tales written by young Frank.
From the age of seventeen, the writer was seriously interested in philately and tried to publish his own journal dedicated to this topic. He later worked as a bookstore director. His next hobby was breeding thoroughbred chickens. Baum even dedicated the book to this topic - it was published just when the guy was twenty years old. However, he later cooled to chickens and became interested in theater.
Baum's personal life
Having traveled with the wandering theater for some time, Lyman Frank Baum met the beautiful Maud at the age of twenty-five, and a year later they got married. The parents of his beloved Frank did not really like the dreamy son-in-law, but the wealth of his father forced them to agree to this marriage.
Frank and Maud had four sons, whom Baum loved very much and often told tales before going to bed of his own composition.
Over time, he began to record them, and soon published - this is how Baum's writing career began.
Successful Writer Career
After the success of the first children's book, a couple of years later, Baum wrote the sequel, âThe Goose Father: His Bookâ. However, watching his own kids grow up, he realized that it was necessary to compose a fairy tale for older children, who were no longer interested in reading about geese walking in a farmyard. So there was an idea to write about the girl Dorothy, who accidentally ended up in the fabulous land of Oz.
In 1900, the debut tale of the cycle about the country of Oz was born. This work instantly gained popularity, and tens of thousands of children began to be read out by the fascinating adventures of Dorothy. On the wave of success, the author published a fairy tale about Santa Claus, and two years later - its continuation. However, readers all expected from him a new book about a fabulous country, and in 1904 another fairy tale of the cycle âCountry of Ozâ was born.
The last years of Baum
Trying to move away from the topic of the country of Oz, Baum wrote other tales, but they were not so interested in the readers. Later, the writer completely switched to writing books about a magical land. In total, Baum devoted fourteen books to her, the last two of them being published after the death of a writer who died in 1919 from heart problems. It is noteworthy that the cycle about the country of Oz was so popular that even after the death of its creator, other writers began to publish numerous sequels. Of course, they were inferior to the original.
Summary of The Amazing Wizard of Oz
The main character of the most popular first part and most of the other books of the cycle was the orphan Dorothy (Volkov renamed it Allie).
In the first book, a girl with a faithful dog Toto takes a powerful hurricane to Oz. Trying to return home, at the prompt of a good sorceress, Dorothy goes to the Emerald City to the ruling Ozu in it. On the way, the girl makes friends with the Scarecrow, Ironman and the Cowardly Lion. All of them need something from the wizard, and he promises to fulfill their requests if friends save the country from the evil sorceress. Having overcome many problems, each hero gets what he wants.
The plot of the story "The Wonderful Country of Oz"
In the second book, the main character is the servant of the evil witch Mombie Type. Once a boy runs away from her, taking with him a magic powder that can breathe life into inanimate objects. Having reached the Emerald City, he helps Scarecrow to escape from there, as the city is captured by an army of militant girls with knitting needles led by Ginger. Together they ask for help from the Lumberjack and Glinda (the good sorceress). It turns out that they need to find the true ruler of the city - the disappeared Princess Ozma. Through time, it turns out that Type is Ozma, bewitched by the Mombie witch. Having regained its true appearance, the princess with friends regains power.
The plot of "Ozmys from the country of Oz", "Dorothy and the Wizard in the country of Oz", "Travel to the country of Oz", as well as "The Emerald City of Oz"
The girl Dorothy reappears in the third book. Here she, together with the chicken Billina, ends up in the Fairyland. The girl with horror learns the tragic story of the royal family of Yves. Trying to help them, she almost lost her own head. However, having met Princess Ozma (who came to the aid of the royal family in the company of the Scarecrow and the Lumberjack), Dorothy manages to remove the spell from the Yves family and return home.
In the fourth book, as a result of an earthquake, Dorothy with her cousin Jeb and the decrepit horse Jim fall into the magical land of glass cities. Here they meet with the wizard Oz and kitten Eureka. To get out of this completely unfriendly country, the heroes have to overcome a lot. The journey ends again in the country of Oz, where the girl is expected by good old friends who help her and her companions return home.
In the fifth book of the series, Princess Ozma had a birthday on which she really wanted to see Dorothy. To do this, she confused all the roads, and the girl, showing the way to a vagabond named Kosmatiy, got lost herself and after numerous wanderings and adventures fell into the country of Oz to Ozma.
In the sixth story of the Country of Oz series, due to farm problems, the Dorothy family moves to live in Fairyland. However, disaster loomed over the Emerald City - an evil king is trying to capture him, building an underground passage.
The rest of the tales of Baum's Magic Land
Baum intended to complete the epic "The Emerald City of Oz." After which he tried to write fairy tales about other heroes. But young readers wanted to continue the adventures of their favorite characters. Ultimately, at the urging of readers and publishers, Baum continued the cycle. In subsequent years, six more stories were published: âPatch from the country of Ozâ, âTick-Tok from the country of Ozâ, âScarecrow from the country of Ozâ, âRinkitink from the country of Ozâ, âThe Missing Princess of the country of Ozâ, âThe Lumberjack from the countryâ Oz. " After the death of the writer, his heirs published manuscripts of two more tales of the Oz universe: âThe Magic of Ozâ and âGlinda from Ozâ.
Most of the latest books already felt the authorâs fatigue from this topic, but young readers from around the world asked him for new tales, and the writer could not refuse them. It is noteworthy that today some children write letters to the writer, despite the fact that Lymen Frank Baum has long died.
Books about Santa Claus
Although Baum received world fame and name thanks to an endless epic about the country of Oz, he wrote other tales. So, after the success of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the writer composed a wonderful good Christmas tale, "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus." In it, he talked about the fate of a good boy raised by a lioness and nymph Nekil, about how and why he became Santa Claus and how he received immortality.
This tale also really liked the children. Apparently, the story of Santa Claus himself was closer to Baum than about the country of Oz, and soon he was publishing the book âKidnapped Santa Clausâ. In it, he talks about the main enemies of Klaus and their attempts to disrupt Christmas. Later, the plot of this book was often used for many films.
Over his rather long life, he wrote more than two dozen books by Lymen Frank Baum. These books were perceived differently by the public. Tales brought him the most popularity. Although the author has repeatedly tried to write on other topics, and very successfully, for his readers he will forever remain the court chronicler of the country of Oz.