Little Betsy

Little Betsy

Little Wizard Stories Of Oz

Little Wizard Stories of Oz  

Author

L. Frank Baum

Illustrator

John R. Neill

Cover artist

John R. Neill

Country

United States

Language

English

Genre(s)

Fantasy

Publisher

Reilly & Britton

Publication date

1914

Media type

Print (Hardcover)

ISBN

N/A

Oz portal

Little Wizard Stories of Oz is a set of six short stories written for young children by L. Frank Baum, the creator of the Oz books. The six tales were published in separate small booklets, "Oz books in miniature," in 1913, and then in a collected edition in 1914. Each booklet was 29 pages long, and printed in blue ink rather than black.

The stories were part of a project, by Baum and his publisher Reilly & Britton, to revitalize and continue the series of Oz books that Baum had written up to that date. The story collection effectively constitutes a fifteenth Oz book by Baum.

Baum had attempted to end the Oz series with the sixth book, The Emerald City of Oz (1910); in the final chapter of that book he sealed off the Land of Oz from the outside world. He began a new series of books with The Sea Fairies (1911) and Sky Island (1912). Also, he reacted to his 1911 bankruptcy by increasing his literary output: he produced five books that year, his greatest output since 1907. Baum tried to launch two other juvenile novel series in 1911, with The Daring Twins, released under his own name, and The Flying Girl, under his "Edith Van Dyne" pseudonym.

Unfortunately, none of the new series was as successful as the previous Baum and Van Dyne series the Oz books and Aunt Jane's Nieces. Disappointing sales through 1911 and 1912 convinced Baum and Reilly & Britton that a return to Oz was needed. Baum wrote The Patchwork Girl of Oz for a 1913 release, and in the same year his publisher issued the six Little Wizard stories in individual booklets (price, $0.15 each). The goal was to reach the youngest beginning readers, and create in them an interest in the larger Oz canon, as part of a "promotion of L. Frank Baum and all of his books."

The six tales in the Little Wizard Stories are:

"The Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger"

"Little Dorothy and Toto"

"Tiktok and the Nome King"

"Ozma and the Little Wizard"

"Jack Pumpkinhead and the Sawhorse"

"The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman"

The stories have a charm and simplicity that is appropriate for their intended audience. In the first selection, the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger are frustrated by their tame routine guarding Ozma's throne in the Emerald City; they decide to go out and fulfill their darker desires. The Lion wants to attack a man and make "chop suey of him." The Tiger longs to satisfy his long-denied appetite for fat babies. In the end, both cats discover that they cannot bring themselves to harm anybody.

(The story "Little Dorothy and Toto" contains a curious feature. The Wizard plays a trick on Dorothy in order to teach her "that it is really dangerous for a little girl to wander alone in a fairy country." This caution is very different from the independent spirit that Dorothy displays in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and which Baum appears to encourage throughout the Oz series. It would seem clear that Baum was thinking of the smallest readers when he wrote this story.)

The strategy of reaching beginning readers was successful enough for Reilly & Britton to repeat it within a few years. The publisher released selections from L. Frank Baum's Juvenile Speaker (1910) in six smaller books called The Snuggle Tales in 191617, and again as the Oz-Man Tales in 1920.

Four of the Little Wizard Stories were re-issued in 1932 in a new form, as The Little Oz Books with Jig Saw Oz Puzzles. A year or two later the four tales were released again, as part of a promotion for a Wizard of Oz radio program (sponsored by Jell-O). Rand McNally published the six stories in three booklets in 1939.

References

^ Douglas G. Greene and Peter E. Hanff, Bibliographia Oziana: A Concise Bibliographical Checklist of the Oz Books of L. Frank Baum and His Successors, revised and enlarged edition, Kinderhook, IL, International Wizard of Oz Club, 1988.

^ David L. Greene and Dick Martin, The Oz Scrapbook, New York, Random House, 1977; pp. 38-9.

^ L. Frank Baum, The Complete Book of Oz: 15-in-1 Omnibus, Radford, VA, Wilder Publications, 2007. The titles of all Baum's Oz books end with the phrases "of Oz" or "in Oz," which accounts for the odd title of the story collection Little Wizard of Oz Stories would have made more sense.

^ Katharine M. Rogers, L. Frank Baum, Creator of Oz: A Biography, New York, St. Martin's Press, 2002; pp. 184, 190-1, 210 and ff.

^ Rogers, pp. 175-8.

^ Rogers, pp. 186-9.

^ Both the Flying Girl and Daring Twins series ended with their second volumes, The Flying Girl and Her Chum and Phoebe Daring (both 1912).

^ Rogers, p. 194.

^ Green and Martin, p. 38.

External links

The texts of the stories online

v  d  e

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Oz portal

General

Land of Oz  Characters  Major books  Apocrypha  Adaptations  The Oz Film Manufacturing Company

Authors

L. Frank Baum  Ruth Plumly Thompson  John R. Neill  Jack Snow  Rachel Cosgrove Payes  Eloise McGraw  Alexander Volkov  Sherwood Smith

Illustrators

William Wallace Denslow  John R. Neill  Frank Kramer  Dirk Gringhuis  Dick Martin  Eric Shanower

Characters

Princess Ozma  Dorothy Gale  Scarecrow  Tin Woodman  Cowardly Lion  Hungry Tiger  Saw-Horse  The Wizard of Oz  Good Witch of the North  Glinda  Wicked Witch of the West  Nome King  Mombi  Ugu the shoemaker  Tik-Tok  Jack Pumpkinhead  Aunt Em  Uncle Henry  Cap'n Bill  Unc Nunkie  Jellia Jamb  Woggle-Bug  Shaggy Man  Polychrome  Frogman  Cayke  Ervic  Belfaygor of Bourne  Toto  Billina  Eureka  Glass Cat  Button-Bright  Betsy Bobbin  Trot  Peter Brown  Wicked Witch of the East  Bell-snickle  Jenny Jump  Soldier with the Green Whiskers  Guardian of the Gates  Dr. Pipt  Ojo the Lucky  Ku-Klip  Nimmie Amee  Patchwork Girl  Jinjur  Woozy  Kabumpo  Sir Hokus of Pokes  Jinnicky the Red Jinn  Pigasus  Pastoria  Gayelette  Queen Lurline  Princess Langwidere  Queen Coo-ee-oh  Doctor Nikidik  Mrs. Yoop  Johnny Dooit  The Gump  Boq  Munchkins  Winkies  Quadlings  Gillikins

Adaptations

Official canon

The Wizard of Oz (1902)  The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910)  Dorothy and the Scarecrow in Oz  The Land of Oz  The Patchwork Girl of Oz  The Magic Cloak of Oz  His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz  Wizard of Oz (1925)  The Wizard of Oz (1933)  The Wizard of Oz (1939)  Tales of the Wizard of Oz  Return to Oz (1964)  The Wonderful Land of Oz  Journey Back to Oz  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1975)  The Wiz  The Marvelous Land of Oz  The Wizard of Oz (1982)  Return to Oz (1985)  Lost in Oz  Dorothy of Oz  The Muppets' Wizard of Oz  Emerald City Confidential  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (comics)  Dorothy of Oz (2011)  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (2011)

TV series

The Wizard of Oz (1990)  The Oz Kids (1996)

Translations

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1986 TV series)  The Wonderful Galaxy of Oz  Os Trapalhes e o Mgico de Orz  Ayecik ve Sihirli Cceler Ryalar lkesinde

Parodies

The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's

Reimagining

The Wizard of Mars  Zardoz  Oz  Tin Man

The Wiz

Musical  Film

The Wicked Years

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West  Son of a Witch  A Lion Among Men  Wicked

Categories: Books by L. Frank Baum | Oz books | 1913 short stories
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what is the correct order of the books, "betsy and tacy" by maud hart lovelace?

i used to read them when i was little and i'd like to read them again only i dont know the right order they go in.

Betsy-Tacy (1940)
Betsy-Tacy and Tib (1941)
Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill (1942)
Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown (1943)
Heaven to Betsy (1945)
Betsy in Spite of Herself (1946)
Betsy Was a Junior (1947)
Betsy and Joe (1948)
Betsy and the Great World (1952)
Betsy's Wedding (1955)

little betsy turbo