The Oz books form a book series that begins with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) and relates the fictional history of the Land of Oz. Oz was created by author L. Frank Baum, who went on to write fourteen full-length Oz books.[1] Baum was styled as "the Royal Historian of Oz" in order to emphasize the concept that Oz is an actual place on Earth, full of magic. In his Oz books, Baum created the illusion that characters such as Dorothy and Princess Ozma relayed their adventures in Oz to Baum themselves, by means of a wireless telegraph.
After Baum's death in 1919, publisher Reilly & Lee continued to produce annual Oz books, passing on the role of Royal Historian. Ruth Plumly Thompson took up the task in 1922, and wrote nineteen Oz books. After Thompson, Reilly & Lee published seven more books in the series: three by John R. Neill, two by Jack Snow, one by Rachel R.C. Payes, and a final book by Eloise Jarvis McGraw and Lauren Lynn McGraw. The forty books in Reilly & Lee's Oz series are called "the Famous Forty" by fans, and are considered the canonical Oz texts.[2]
| The original Oz books by L. Frank Baum | |||||
| Cover | Order | Title | Illustrator | Year | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Wonderful Wizard of Oz | W. W. Denslow | 1900 | George M. Hill Company | |
| A little farm girl named Dorothy and her pet dog, Toto, get swept away into the Land of Oz by a Kansas cyclone. Upon her arrival, she is hailed as a sorceress; liberates a living Scarecrow; and meets a man made entirely of tin and a Cowardly Lion. But all Dorothy really wants to know is how she can return home. The ruler of Oz, the great Wizard, who resides in an Emerald City, may be the only one powerful enough to help her. | |||||
| 2 | The Marvelous Land of Oz | John R. Neill | 1904 | Reilly & Britton | |
| A little boy, Tip, escapes from his evil guardian, the witch Mombi, with the help of a walking wooden figure with a jack-o'-lantern head named Jack Pumpkinhead (brought to life with the magic Powder of Life Tip stole from Mombi), as well as a living Sawhorse (created from the same powder). Tip ends up on an adventure with the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman to help Scarecrow recapture his throne from General Jinjur's army of girls. | |||||
| 3 | Ozma of Oz | John R. Neill | 1907 | Reilly & Britton | |
| While traveling to Australia with her Uncle Henry, Dorothy is swept overboard with a hen named Billina. They land in Ev, a country across the desert from Oz, where they encounter the Wheelers and make a new friend, the mechanical man Tik-Tok. They meet Princess Ozma, who is in Ev to attempt to save Ev's royal family from the evil Nome King, and finally return to Oz. | |||||
| 4 | Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz | John R. Neill | 1908 | Reilly & Britton | |
| On her way back from Australia, Dorothy visits her cousin, Zeb, in California. They are soon swallowed up by an earthquake, along with Zeb's horse Jim and Dorothy's cat Eureka. The group soon meets up with the Wizard and all travel underground back to Oz. | |||||
| 5 | The Road to Oz | John R. Neill | 1909 | Reilly & Britton | |
| Dorothy meets the Shaggy Man, and while trying to find the road to Butterfield, they get lost on an enchanted road. As they travel they meet the rainbow's daughter, Polychrome, and a little boy, Button-Bright. They have all sorts of strange adventures on the way to Oz. | |||||
| 6 | The Emerald City of Oz | John R. Neill | 1910 | Reilly & Britton | |
| Dorothy Gale and her Uncle Henry and Aunt Em come to live in Oz permanently. While they tour through the Quadling Country, the Nome King is tunneling beneath the desert to invade Oz. This was originally intended to be the last book in the series. | |||||
| 7 | The Patchwork Girl of Oz | John R. Neill | 1913 | Reilly & Britton | |
| A Munchkin boy named Ojo must find a cure to free his Uncle Nunkie from a magical spell that has turned him into a statue. With the help of Scraps, a living patchwork doll, Ojo journeys through Oz to save his uncle. | |||||
| 8 | Tik-Tok of Oz | John R. Neill | 1914 | Reilly & Britton | |
| Betsy Bobbin, a girl from Oklahoma, is shipwrecked with her mule, Hank, in the Rose Kingdom of Oz. She meets the Shaggy Man there and the two try to rescue the Shaggy Man's brother from the Nome King. This book is partly based upon Baum's stage musical, The Tik-Tok Man of Oz, which was in turn based on Ozma of Oz. | |||||
| 9 | The Scarecrow of Oz | John R. Neill | 1915 | Reilly & Britton | |
| Cap'n Bill and Trot journey to Oz and, with the help of the Scarecrow, the former ruler of Oz, overthrow the villainous King Krewl of Jinxland. Cap'n Bill and Trot had previously appeared in two other novels by Baum, The Sea Fairies and Sky Island. Based in part upon the 1914 silent film, His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz. This was allegedly L. Frank Baum's personal favourite Oz book. | |||||
| 10 | Rinkitink in Oz | John R. Neill | 1916 | Reilly & Britton | |
| Young Prince Inga of Pingaree, aided by King Rinkitink, three powerful magical pearls, and a goat, attempts to rescue Inga's parents and their subjects from marauding warriors who have laid waste to Pingaree and enslaved its people. Baum originally wrote this book as a non-Oz book which he titled King Rinkitink. | |||||
| 11 | The Lost Princess of Oz | John R. Neill | 1917 | Reilly & Britton | |
| When Princess Ozma mysteriously disappears, four search parties are sent out, one for each of Oz's four countries. Most of the book covers Dorothy and the Wizard's efforts to find her. Meanwhile, Cayke the Cookie Chef discovers that her magic dishpan (on which she bakes her famous cookies) has been stolen. Along with the Frogman, they leave their mountain in Winkie Country to find the pan. | |||||
| 12 | The Tin Woodman of Oz | John R. Neill | 1918 | Reilly & Lee | |
| The Tin Woodman, whose real name is Nick Chopper, sets out to find the Munchkin Girl he had courted before he became a tin man. The Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow and their friend Woot the Wanderer have numerous adventures on this quest. They are transformed into animals by a hostile giantess, and they meet another live tin man, Captain Fyter, as well as a Frankenstein monster-like creature, Chopfyt, made from their combined fleshly parts by the tinsmith Ku-Klip. | |||||
| 13 | The Magic of Oz | John R. Neill | 1919 | Reilly & Lee | |
| Ruggedo, former Nome King, tries to conquer Oz again with the help of a Munchkin boy, Kiki Aru. Meanwhile, it is also Ozma's birthday, and all of Oz's citizens are searching for the most unusual present for the little princess. This was published a month after Baum's death. | |||||
| 14 | Glinda of Oz | John R. Neill | 1920 | Reilly & Lee | |
| Dorothy, Ozma and Glinda try to stop a war in the Gillikin Country. This was Baum's last Oz book, and it was published posthumously. | |||||
| Cover | Title | Author | Illustrator | Year | Publisher | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz | L. Frank Baum | Walt McDougal | 1904–1905 | -- | ||
| Newspaper comic/column chronicling the misadventures of the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Woggle-Bug, Jack Pumpkinhead, the Sawhorse, and the Gump in the United States. The series was written to promote The Marvelous Land of Oz. This was republished several times in book form, first in a heavily revised edition by Jean Kellogg as The Visitors from Oz and later as The Third Book of Oz by Buckethead Enterprises of Oz, which was censored to remove the outdated ethnic stereotyping. The Third Book of Oz also includes "The Woggle-Bug Book" (see below) and is illustrated by Eric Shanower. Hungry Tiger Press was not censored as the Buckethead edition was, but used The Visitors from Oz as the title like the Kellogg adaptation. The complete series can be read online.[3] | ||||||
| The Woggle-Bug Book: The Strange Adventure of the Woggle-Bug | L. Frank Baum | Ike Morgan | 1905 | Reilly & Britton | ||
| Further adventures of the Woggle-Bug in the United States after he gets separated from the others. The text is included in The Third Book of Oz and the Hungry Tiger Press The Visitors from Oz. The book can be read online.[4] | ||||||
| Little Wizard Stories of Oz | L. Frank Baum | John R. Neill | 1913 | Reilly & Britton | ||
| Six short stories about the Oz characters, originally written to help re-launch the Oz series in 1913. Full text can be found online.[5] | ||||||
| The Littlest Giant: An Oz Story | L. Frank Baum | Bill Eubank | written 1917; published 1972 | International Wizard of Oz Club | ||
| A violent tale about a magic dart, nominally set in the Gillikin Country but otherwise making no reference to Oz. | ||||||
In addition to the canonical Oz books, several of Baum's works that are not Oz stories are nevertheless nominally set in the same fictional universe as the Oz books, and include several character crossovers. These are: Queen Zixi of Ix, The Magical Monarch of Mo, The Sea Fairies, Sky Island, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, and John Dough and the Cherub.
Following Baum's death, publisher Reilly & Lee continued publishing annual Oz books, selecting new Royal Historians to record the latest Oz doings. These books, together with Baum's original fourteen novels, form the "Famous Forty", and are considered the canonical books of the series.[2]
Ruth Plumly Thompson's style was markedly different from Baum's. Her tales harked back to more traditional fairy tales. She often included a small kingdom, with a prince or princess who saves his or her kingdom and regains the throne or saves Oz from invasion.
| By Ruth Plumly Thompson | |||||
| Order | Title | Illustrator | Year | Publisher | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | The Royal Book of Oz | John R. Neill | 1921 | Reilly & Lee | |
| The Scarecrow, going on a quest to find his family tree, slides down a magic bean-pole and discovers he is actually the Emperor of the mysterious underground Silver Islands. When Dorothy discovers him missing, she sets out to find him, meeting the knight, Sir Hokus of Pokes, along the way. Although Baum was credited as the author, it was written entirely by Thompson. | |||||
| 16 | Kabumpo in Oz | John R. Neill | 1922 | Reilly & Lee | |
| During Prince Pompadore of Pumperdink's birthday celebration a magic scroll is found inside his birthday cake. It warns him that if he does not wed a "proper princess" within seven days, his entire kingdom will disappear. The prince, along with the old, wise elephant Kabumpo, the Elegant Elephant, set off on an adventure to the Emerald City and along the way meet up with Peg Amy, a living wooden doll, and Wag, a giant rabbit. Meanwhile, Ruggedo the Gnome King turns himself into a giant while tunneling under the Emerald City, gets Ozma's palace stuck on his crown, and runs off with it. | |||||
| 17 | The Cowardly Lion of Oz | John R. Neill | 1923 | Reilly & Lee | |
| The tyrant Mustafa of Mudge, who has a large collection of captive lions, uses magic to compel an American circus clown, Notta Bit More, and orphan Bobbie Downs, or Bob Up, to capture the Cowardly Lion for his collection. At the same time, the Cowardly Lion finds that the courage he received from the Wizard in the first book of the series has worn off and that he is cowardly again, and he sets out to find a very brave man, intending to obtain that man's courage and become brave again, by eating him. | |||||
| 18 | Grampa in Oz | John R. Neill | 1924 | Reilly & Lee | |
| Prince Tatters of Ragbag and Grampa, a former soldier, set out to search for King Fumbo's lost head and a fortune to save the kingdom. Meanwhile, in Perhaps City in the Maybe Mountains the Princess Pretty Good disappears after the prophet Abrog foresees her marrying a monster if she does not marry in four days. | |||||
| 19 | The Lost King of Oz | John R. Neill | 1925 | Reilly & Lee | |
| Old Mombi (from The Marvelous Land of Oz) is now a cook in the land of Kimbaloo, and one day comes across Pajuka, the former prime minister of Oz, whom she enchanted into a goose years before. She sets out to find Princess Ozma's lost father Pastoria, the former king of Oz, whom she had also enchanted. Meanwhile, Dorothy is accidentally transported to Hollywood, where she meets Humpy, a live stunt dummy, whom she brings back to Oz. | |||||
| 20 | The Hungry Tiger of Oz | John R. Neill | 1926 | Reilly & Lee | |
| The Hungry Tiger is transported to Rash, the Red Kingdom in Ev, where he is made guard of the prison, where he discovers Betsy Bobbin, Carter Green, the Vegetable Man, and the Scarlet Prince Reddy of Rash as prisoners. They escape, and have many adventures on the way back to Oz. | |||||
| 21 | The Gnome King of Oz | John R. Neill | 1927 | Reilly & Lee | |
| Peter Brown, an American boy, finds his way to the Island of Ruggedo, the wicked Gnome King. The two escape to Oz, which the Gnome King plans to conquer. Meanwhile, Scraps, the Patchwork Girl, is kidnapped by the Quilties and made their queen. | |||||
| 22 | The Giant Horse of Oz | John R. Neill | 1928 | Reilly & Lee | |
| Many years ago, before Dorothy came to Oz, the royal family of the Munchkins were kidnapped and imprisoned on the mysterious Ozure Islands by the witch Mombi. Quiberon, an evil monster created by Mombi, guards them, but now wants a mortal maiden. Prince Philador of the Ozure Islands sets out to save them, and meets Tattypoo, the Good Witch of the North (not seen since a cameo in The Road to Oz). | |||||
| 23 | Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz | John R. Neill | 1929 | Reilly & Lee | |
| Remembering his previous visit to Oz, Peter (from The Gnome King of Oz) finds himself in Jack Pumpkinhead's yard. The two set off for the Emerald City, but take a wrong turn and end up in the Quadling Country. They meet Belfaygor of Bourne, with his beard cursed to rapid growth, and Snif the Iffin, a griffin who has lost his "grr." Together, the group stymies the Red Baron of Baffleburg's plot to conquer Oz and marry Ozma. | |||||
| 24 | The Yellow Knight of Oz | John R. Neill | 1930 | Reilly & Lee | |
| Sir Hokus of Pokes grows bored with life in the Emerald City, and he and the Comfortable Camel set out for some adventure. Meanwhile, a boy named Speedy blasts his way to Oz in a homemade rocket ship, where he finds himself in the underground kingdom of Subterranea. Sir Hokus rescues the Princess Marygolden, and discovers the secret of his own past. | |||||
| 25 | Pirates in Oz | John R. Neill | 1931 | Reilly & Lee | |
| The former Gnome King, now a mute outcast wandering peddler, regains his ability to speak, becomes King of the small kingdom of Menankypoo, enlists a gang of pirates and a clever magician, and attempts once again to conquer the land of Oz. Meanwhile, Peter returns to Oz for a third time, and in the company of a deposed king and a pirate chief whose pirates have abandoned him for being soft-hearted, sails around the Nonestic Ocean visiting small islands. They are joined by Pigasus the flying pig. | |||||
| 26 | The Purple Prince of Oz | John R. Neill | 1932 | Reilly & Lee | |
| When the royal family of Pumperdink is enchanted by an evil fairy, Kabumpo and young Prince Randy of Regalia (traveling incognito) escape, and ultimately rescue the kingdom with the help of Red Jinn. In the process, Randy accomplishes the tasks which the Kingdom of Regalia requires of its princes as proof of manhood and strong character. | |||||
| 27 | Ojo in Oz | John R. Neill | 1933 | Reilly & Lee | |
| Ojo (from The Patchwork Girl of Oz) is captured by Gypsies, who plan to exchange him for a large bounty which a mysterious magician is offering to anyone who can capture and deliver him. He escapes with fellow captive Snufferbux the dancing bear, and falls in with Realbad, the leader of a group of bandits. Together they discover X-Pando, the flexible man, free Crystal City from the Blue Dragon, and visit Unicorners, a community of Unicorns. Searching for Ojo, Dorothy and Scraps visit Dicksey Land, as well as many other strange lands. | |||||
| 28 | Speedy in Oz | John R. Neill | 1934 | Reilly & Lee | |
| Speedy (from The Yellow Knight of Oz) returns for another adventure. While inspecting a dinosaur skeleton, Speedy is blown by a geyser into the air. The skeleton comes magically to life and becomes Terrybubble, a live (although fleshless) dinosaur. Terrybubble and Speedy land on Umbrella Island, a magic floating island, which has been captured by a giant. | |||||
| 29 | The Wishing Horse of Oz | John R. Neill | 1935 | Reilly & Lee | |
| This Oz mystery starts in Skampavia where King Skamperoo wishes for a horse using enchanted emerald necklaces. When Chalk, the Wishing Horse of Oz, falls from the sky, Skamperoo decides the emeralds must be from the Emerald City, and decides to conquer all of Oz. | |||||
| 30 | Captain Salt in Oz | John R. Neill | 1936 | Reilly & Lee | |
| Captain Salt (from Pirates in Oz) sails the Nonestic Ocean and discovers Ozamaland, a legendary land of flying animals, as well as the famous White City of Om and many other places. | |||||
| 31 | Handy Mandy in Oz | John R. Neill | 1937 | Reilly & Lee | |
| Mandy from Mt. Mern is a Mernite, a race of seven-handed people. One day, while Mandy is trying to gather her goats, the rock she is standing on is blown into the air and into Oz. She lands in Keretaria in the Munchkin Country and meets Nox the white Royal Ox. This is also the last appearance of Ruggedo, the Gnome King. | |||||
| 32 | The Silver Princess in Oz | John R. Neill | 1938 | Reilly & Lee | |
| King Randy of Regalia sets off for adventure with his old friend, the Elegant Elephant Kabumpo, to visit their friend Jinnicky the Red Jinn in Ev. Before long, they meet Planetty, the lovely Princess from Anuther Planet, and her fire-breathing Thundercolt, Thun, and set off on more adventures. | |||||
| 33 | Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz | John R. Neill | 1939 | Reilly & Lee | |
| The Wizard decides to create ozoplanes for his friends which can fly into the stratosphere. The Wizard, Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion and the Scarecrow take one ozoplane, called the Ozpril, and go to the Red Top Mountains. The other group: Tin Woodman, Jellia Jamb and the Soldier with the Green Whiskers take the Oztober to the sky city of Stratovania. The phrase "The Wizard of Oz" was included in the title to coincide with the 1939 release of the film The Wizard of Oz. | |||||
Illustrator John R. Neill's vision of Oz is more manic than Thompson or Baum's. Houses often get up and do battle, and everything can be alive. His entries take Oz's color scheme (blue for Munchkin Country, red for Quadling Country, etc.) to an extreme, extending it to sky and skin colors.
| By John R. Neill | |||||
| Order | Title | Illustrator | Year | Publisher | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 34 | The Wonder City of Oz | John R. Neill | 1940 | Reilly & Lee | |
| Jenny Jump captures a leprechaun and forces him to make her into a fairy, but he only does half the job before escaping. Jenny then jumps to Oz using her half-fairy gifts. She soon sets up a fashionable Style Shop with a magic turnstile which will give anyone high style and challenges Ozma to an ozlection to become ruler of the Land of Oz. | |||||
| 35 | The Scalawagons of Oz | John R. Neill | 1941 | Reilly & Lee | |
| The Wizard creates Scalawagons, intelligent cars that can also fly. He makes Tik-Tok superintendent of the Scalawagons Factory, but the mechanical man runs down. Bell Snickle, a mysterious creature, takes advantage of Tik-Tok's condition by filling the scalawagons with "flabber-gas" and the Wizard nearly loses his scalawagons. | |||||
| 36 | Lucky Bucky in Oz | John R. Neill | 1942 | Reilly & Lee | |
| Bucky is aboard a tugboat in New York Harbor when the boiler blows up. He is soon blown into the Nonestic Ocean where he meets Davy Jones, a wooden whale. The pair travel to the Emerald City, and have many watery adventures along the way. | |||||
Jack Snow was a Baum scholar, and even offered to take over the series at age twelve when Baum died. Snow's books lack any characters created by Thompson or Neill, although he did create his own.
| By Jack Snow | |||||
| Order | Title | Illustrator | Year | Publisher | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 37 | The Magical Mimics in Oz | Frank Kramer | 1946 | Reilly & Lee | |
| Ozma and Glinda go to meet with the Fairy Queen Lurline in the Forest of Burzee and leave Dorothy in charge of Oz. During Ozma's absence, the evil Mimics escape their imprisonment on Mount Illuso and use their magic to take the form of others and attempt to conquer Oz. | |||||
| 38 | The Shaggy Man of Oz | Frank Kramer | 1949 | Reilly & Lee | |
| It is discovered that the love magnet, which was owned by the Shaggy Man (from The Road to Oz), has broken, and only its creator, the evil Conjo, can fix it. Meanwhile, Twink and Tom are pulled through their television to the Isle of Conjo in the Nonestic Ocean along with the wooden clown Twiffle. Soon the Shaggy Man arrives and saves them from Conjo. | |||||
| By Rachel R.C. Payes | |||||
| Order | Title | Illustrator | Year | Publisher | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39 | The Hidden Valley of Oz | Dirk Gringhuis | 1951 | Reilly & Lee | |
| Jam, a boy from Ohio, builds a kite and attaches it to a crate and sets off to Oz with his two guinea pigs, Pinny and Gig, and a lab rat named Percy. Once in Oz, Jam realizes his pets can talk. He lands in the Hidden Valley and becomes a prisoner, but they escape and set out on adventures with the Tin Woodman. | |||||
| By Eloise Jarvis McGraw and Lauren Lynn McGraw | |||||
| Order | Title | Illustrator | Year | Publisher | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | Merry Go Round in Oz | Dick Martin | 1963 | Reilly & Lee | |
| Robin Brown from the United States rides a magic merry-go-round horse named Merry Go Round to Oz. Upon landing, Robin must help find the missing magic Circlets of Halidom. | |||||
| Subsequent books published by the International Wizard of Oz Club | |||||
| Title | Writer | Illustrator | Year | Publisher | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Murder in Oz | Jack Snow | 1958 | International Wizard of Oz Club | ||
| A short story in which Tip takes his life back from Ozma, and both are ultimately restored as twin siblings. | |||||
| Yankee in Oz | Ruth Plumly Thompson | Dick Martin | 1972 | International Wizard of Oz Club | |
| Tompy, a drummer boy from the United States and Yankee, an Air Force dog meet the Red Jinn of Ev and together defeat an evil giant who is threatening both America and Oz. Originally written in 1954, it was published by the Club in 1972 with Reilly & Lee's authorization. | |||||
| The Enchanted Island of Oz | Ruth Plumly Thompson | Dick Martin | 1976 | International Wizard of Oz Club | |
| David B. Perry and his talking camel Humpty Bumpty find themselves on Kapurta, an island stranded in the sky. David must supply the magic to move the island and visit the Emerald City in time for the Cowardly Lion's birthday party. | |||||
| The Forbidden Fountain of Oz | Eloise Jarvis McGraw and Lauren McGraw Wagner | Dick Martin | 1980 | International Wizard of Oz Club | |
| Ozma takes a sip from limeade made from the Forbidden Fountain, forgets who she is and disappears. As the androgynous Poppy, she befriends reformed unsuccessful bandit Tobias Bridlecull, Jr. and a white lamb named Lambert. Kabumpo sets out to rescue her, but he believes Toby to be a kidnapper, so she does not want to be saved. | |||||
| The Ozmapolitan of Oz | Dick Martin | 1986 | The International Wizard of Oz Club | ||
| Septimius Septentrion is three weeks into a job as a printer at the Ozmapolitan in the Emerald City of Oz. A chance meeting with Princess Dorothy leads to a plan to drum up news to promote the sleepy Ozite newspaper. Accompanied by a mifket named Jinx and Dorothy's cat Eureka, "Tim" and Dorothy embark on a cross-country trip through the Winkie Country. The plan is to meet the Scarecrow at his corncob-shaped residence; but the plan quickly goes awry. The party encounter a fortune-teller and receive cryptic gingerbread-fortune-cookie predictions: Dorothy's is "A Fat Chance," Tim's is "A Blue Moon," and Jinx's is "A Silent Melody."The Expeditioneers, as they call themselves, learn the meanings of these fortunes as they progress through an Art Colony, a Game Preserve, and a long and complex subterranean journey. | |||||
| The Wicked Witch of Oz | Rachel Cosgrove | Eric Shanower | 1993 | International Wizard of Oz Club | |
| Singra, the Wicked Witch of the South, awakens after a 100-year nap and decides to make up for all the wickedness she missed out on. Dorothy and friends must try and stop her before she destroys the Emerald City. | |||||
| The Hidden Prince of Oz | Gina Wickwar | Anna-Maria Cool | 2000 | International Wizard of Oz Club | |
| Published in celebration of the hundredth anniversary of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. When the Glass Cat attends the dedication of Silica Valley's Great Glass-works, she doesn't know she's about to find her roots and be wished smack dab into the middle of the 101-year-old mystery of the Hidden Prince of Oz. | |||||
| Toto of Oz | Gina Wickwar | Anna-Maria Cool | 2006 | International Wizard of Oz Club | |
| Toto sets out for the deep, dark Gillikin forests to find the beasts who stole his growl. Eventually he meets an aristocratic guinea pig, the poet Sonny, a plaid Hoot Owl, and two visitors from Kentucky. Joining forces, the adventurers soon realize that some mysterious magic is the cause of their misfortunes and the key to unraveling the secret of strange disappearances. | |||||
| Other recognized Oz sequels | ||||||
| Title | Writer | Illustrator | Year | Publisher | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Emerald Wand of Oz | Sherwood Smith | William Stout | 2005 | HarperCollins | The first of three new books authorized by the Baum Family Trust. | |
| Trouble Under Oz | Sherwood Smith | William Stout | 2006 | HarperCollins | ||
| Sky Pyrates Over Oz | Sherwood Smith | Kim McFarland | 2014 | Lulu.com | Self-published at Lulu.com to complete the planned trilogy. | |
| Additional books by earlier writers | ||||||
| Title | Writer | Illustrator | Year | Publisher | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who's Who in Oz | Jack Snow | John R. Neill, Frank Kramer, and Dirk Gringhuis | 1954 | Reilly & Lee | A guide to characters from the first 39 Oz books. | |
| The Runaway in Oz | John R. Neill | Eric Shanower | 1995 | Books of Wonder | Originally written in 1943. Neill died before he could edit or illustrate the book. | |
| The Rundelstone of Oz | Eloise McGraw | Eric Shanower | 2001 | Hungry Tiger Press | The Troopadours are traveling entertainers. When they reach the village of Whitherwood in the Gillikin Country, they are enchanted by a malicious magician called Slyddwyn. | |
Some are in line with the originals, while others deviate in various ways.
| Orthodox Oz sequels | ||||||
| Title | Writer | Illustrator | Year | Publisher | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mr. Tinker in Oz | James Howe | David Rose | 1985 | Dorothy meets the inventor of Tik-Tok the Clockwork Man. | ||
| The Giant Garden of Oz | Eric Shanower | 1993 | Uncle Henry and Aunt Em finally get a farm of their own, but find themselves in trouble when their produce becomes giant. | |||
| Paradox in Oz | Edward Einhorn | 1999 | Ozma, the lovely girl ruler of Oz, must find a way to restore the enchantment that keeps her people young. A lovable but puzzling Parrot-Ox named Tempus carries Ozma back through time to seek the source of the aging enchantment | |||
| The Silver Tower of Oz | Margaret Baum | 2011 | In a time long before Dorothy Gale first visited the Land of Oz, three children travel through the magical land in search of their lost parents. Along the way they befriend a bunnymunch, a clockwork squirrel, good witches, and many others who help them after they inadvertently release a wicked witch. | |||
| Polychrome: A Romantic Fantasy | Ryk E. Spoor | 2015 | Two of Oz's enemies return and the Rainbow's daughter Polychrome brings a traveler from the mortal world to help them. | |||
Below are some books that deal with alternate versions of Oz, which do not follow the Oz canon originally established by L. Frank Baum.
| Title | Writer | Year | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gregory Maguire | 1995 | It is a parallel novel written by Gregory Maguire and illustrated by Douglas Smith. Based upon the writings of L. Frank Baum, it is a revisionist look at the land and characters of Oz, drawing primarily from Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. The novel presents events, characters and situations from Baum's books and the film in new ways, with several differences between the L. Frank Baum series and the Wicked Cycle. These differences arise from the original Oz functioning as a mirror-image of Kansas in a cultural and economic framework: Oz was wealthy, prosperous and had excellent agricultural yields while Kansas was characterized by economic hardship, environmental difficulties and poor harvests. The social strife described in The Wicked Years indicates that the two series are set in similar and internally consistent but distinctly separate visions of Oz. The novel focuses on the life of the Wicked Witch of the West, whom Maguire gives the name Elphaba. Unlike the popular 1939 movie and Baum's writings, this novel is not directed at children, and contains adult language and content. It is the basis for the Broadway musical Wicked by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman. | ||
| Son of a Witch | Gregory Maguire | 2005 | A sequel to Wicked, focusing on Elphaba's son Liir. | |
| A Lion Among Men | Gregory Maguire | 2008 | The third book in "The Wicked Years", telling the life story of the Cowardly Lion (given the name "Brrr" by Maguire). | |
| Out of Oz | Gregory Maguire | 2011 | The fourth and final volume in "The Wicked Years", focusing on the life of Rain, daughter of Liir and granddaughter of Elphaba. The story also includes Dorothy's return to Oz (and trial for the deaths of the Wicked Witches of the East and West), as well as the appearance of Tip and Mombi (here spelled "Mombey") from The Marvelous Land of Oz. | |
| Tales Told in Oz | Gregory Maguire | 2012 | A collection of five short stories exploring the folklore of Oz in "The Wicked Years." | |
| The Brides of Maracoor | Gregory Maguire | 2021 | The first volume in the series "Another Day", set after "The Wicked Years" and centered on Rain, Elphaba's granddaughter. | |
| The Oracle of Maracoor | Gregory Maguire | 2022 | The second volume of "Another Day". | |
| The Witch of Maracoor | Gregory Maguire | 2023 | The third and final volume of "Another Day". | |
| Elphie: A Wicked Childhood | Gregory Maguire | 2025 | An upcoming prequel to "The Wicked Years." |
| Title | Writer | Year | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Wizard of the Emerald City | Alexander Volkov | 1939, 1959 | Volkov's original adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Ellie, 9, and her puppy Totoshka are carried in a hurricane to the Magic Land. After the first shock of the beauty of the land and Totoshka's sudden gift of wise speech, they meet the Fairy of the Yellow Land, Villina, who tells them that she has allowed their house to be taken by the wind to land on the head of Gingema, the Wicked Witch of the Blue Land, and kill her. Now Ellie is called "The Fairy of the Killing House" and is worshipped by the people around. Villina tells Ellie to follow the Yellow Brick Road to find Goodwin, the Great and the Horrible, the ruler of the Magic Land, who lives in the Emerald City. He is supposed to bring Ellie back home to her parents if she fulfills the greatest wishes of three creatures that she will meet on the way. They set off, Ellie wearing the silver shoes that Totoshka has found in Gingema's house. They meet Strashila the scarecrow, who dreams of having a brain, The Iron Woodman, who dreams of a heart, and the Cowardly Lion, who dreams about courage. This novel is nearly the same as the original, with a few changes and additions. | |
| Urfin Dzhus and His Wooden Soldiers | Alexander Volkov | 1963 | The first of Volkov's sequels, all of which have nearly nothing to do with Baum's. In this one, set one year after the events in the first novel, Urfin Dzhus, a former servant of Gingema, discovers a magical powder that brings things to life. He then creates an army of wooden soldiers and sets off to conquer the Magic Land. On her farm in Kansas, Ellie meets a crow bearing a pictured message: Strashila and The Iron Woodman behind bars. Ellie (with Totoshka) and her uncle, the wooden-legged seaman Charlie Black, set off through the desert and the mountains to help their friends. | |
| Seven Kings of the Underground | Alexander Volkov | 1964 | Trapped in a huge cave after a collapse, Ellie, now 11, Totoshka and Ellie's cousin Fred (13) are forced to move further into the cave. They end up in the underground of the Magic Land, in the Land of the Seven Kings of the Underground, which is currently caught up in a serious political crisis. The people recognize Ellie as the Fairy of the Killing House and keep her hostage, forcing her to use her magical powers to restore the Magical Spring of Sleepy Water that keeps the order in the country. It is up to Fred now to find a way out to seek help from Ellie's friends. | |
| The Fiery God of the Marrans | Alexander Volkov | 1968 | Urfin Dzhus deceives the backward marrans (jumpers), who until then did not know how to control fire, with the help of the injured eagle Karfax, whom he nursed back to health, and the lighter of the one-legged sailor Charlie Black. He persuaded them to wage war against the winkers and the Emerald City. With the help of Ellie's sister Ann, her boyfriend Tim O'Kelli, Arthur, a grandson of the dog Toto and two mechanical ponies and a grandiose volleyball game, the heroes succeed in defeating Urfin this time as well. | |
| The Yellow Fog | Alexander Volkov | 1970 | A giant witch named Arachna wakes up after a 5,000 years' sleep. She wishes to rule the Magic Land, but seeing that the people would not surrender, sends on them an eerie Yellow Fog that threatens to bring eternal winter and poison all the people, eventually causing mass death and destruction. The people of the Magic Land Once seal rooms to hide inside and use the leaves of a certain tree as gas masks, but this cannot last forever. Annie, Ellie's younger sister (8), her friend Tim (9), and Artoshka, Totoshka's grandson, accompanied by Charlie Black, rush to the rescue. Charlie builds a giant piloted robot who defeats the witch. | |
| The Secret of the Abandoned Castle | Alexander Volkov | 1976, 1982 | This time the people of the Magic Land have to deal with an alien invasion. The inseparable Annie and Tim, now 12 and 13, along with Fred the engineer, arrive to help their friends. They discover that the aliens are not united: some of them, the Arzaks, are enslaved to the Menvits through their hypnotic eyes. The guests from the Outer World discover that the Magic Land may hold the key to the Arzaks' freedom. |
| Title | Writer | Year | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Laughing Dragon of Oz | Frank Joslyn Baum | 1934 | A "Big Little Book" written by Baum's eldest son (credited as "Frank Baum") and published by Whitman Publishing. It has none of the characters from the official Oz books, though briefly mentions the Wizard. Whitman allowed it to go out of print after a lawsuit threat from Reilly & Lee. | |
| The Dinamonster of Oz | Kenneth Gage Baum | 1941/1991 | Written by Baum's youngest son in 1941. Published in 1991. | |
| Dorothy of Oz | Roger S. Baum | 1989 | The author is L. Frank Baum's great-grandson. In this story, Dorothy and Toto return to the Land of Oz when it is under attack by a Jester using the wand of the Wicked Witch of the West. Besides help from Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion, Dorothy gets help in her quest by a China Doll Princess, Tugg (a tugboat made from the limbs of the Talking Trees with as many personalities as he has pieces), and Wiser the Owl (who has an unlucky attraction to molasses). The 2014 film is partially inspired by Dorothy of Oz. | |
| The Rewolf of Oz | Roger S. Baum | 1990 | ||
| The SillyOzbuls of Oz | Roger S. Baum | 1991 | The first book in a trilogy featuring the "SillyOzbuls", creatures who look like they're made of balls of pink fluff. | |
| The SillyOzbul of Oz and Toto | Roger S. Baum | 1992 | ||
| The SillyOzbul of Oz and the Magic Merry-Go-Round | Roger S. Baum | 1992 | ||
| Lion of Oz and the Badge of Courage | Roger S. Baum | 1995 | ||
| The Green Star of Oz: A Special Oz Story | Roger S. Baum | 2000 | ||
| Toto in Candy Land of Oz | Roger S. Baum | 2000 | ||
| The Wizard of Oz and the Magic Merry-Go-Round | Roger S. Baum | 2002 | ||
| Toto of Oz and the Surprise Party | Roger S. Baum | 2004 | ||
| The Oz Odyssey | Roger S. Baum | 2006 | ||
| Candy Cane: An Oz Christmas Tale | Roger S. Baum | 2010 | ||
| Oz Odyssey II | Roger S. Baum | 2011 | ||
| The Oz Enigma | Roger S. Baum | 2013 |
| Title | Writer | Year | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Number of the Beast | Robert A. Heinlein | 1980 | The story uses Oz as one of many alternate universe settings in which events take place, alongside alternate versions of the setting's Earth. | |
| A Barnstormer in Oz | Philip José Farmer | 1982 | Set approximately 30 years after the events of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the protagonist of this novel is Hank Stover, the son of Dorothy Gale Stover. After his plane is lost in a mysterious green cloud, Hank finds himself in an Oz on the brink of a civil war. The novel states that the events of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz are based on real events. Baum had been a newspaper reporter in Nebraska around the time Dorothy was transported to Oz; he interviewed her and later used his notes as the basis for the first novel. All subsequent novels by Baum are solely products of his imagination. | |
| Return to Oz | Joan D. Vinge | 1985 | The book version of the movie Return to Oz (1985), which is based on the second and third books, The Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz. | |
| Was | Geoff Ryman | 1992 | Was employs the literary conceit that a Kansas girl named Dorothy existed and that, as a school teacher, L. Frank Baum made up the story of the first Oz book to amuse her. The novel takes place in the real world. | |
| Home from Oz | Thomas Nelson | 1994 | Home from Oz (Thomas Nelson, 1994) and The Oz Syndrome (Hillcrest Publishers, 2001) are two books penned by psychologist and professor, Dr.Michael A. O'Donnell which deal with the Oz characters and the MGM musical version from a psychological point of view. | |
| Stephen King | 1997 | The characters visit an unpopulated version of the Emerald City, called the Green Palace. The Palace is a combination of the versions from the 1939 film and the book, pulled from the protagonists' imaginations. The man sitting on the Wizard's throne turns out to be Marten Broadcloak, an alter-ego of one of the Dark Tower Series' main villains. | ||
| Visitors from Oz | Martin Gardner | 1998 | Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Woodman use a Klein bottle to travel to New York City in 1998. Gardner's whimsical fantasy includes various characters from the Oz books as well as ancient Greek gods and characters from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. | |
| Oz Squad: March of the Tin Soldiers | Steve Ahlquist | 2011 | This novel takes place a few years after the end of the Oz Squad comic book series. The Squad rushes to foil a plot by Rebecca Eastwitch to enslave both Earth and Oz using the secrets of a grimoire stolen from the Library of Hell. | |
| Oz Reimagined: New Tales from the Emerald City and Beyond | Douglas Cohen & John Joseph Adams | 2013 | is a 2013 anthology edited by Douglas Cohen & John Joseph Adams published by Amazon Publishing's 47North imprint.[6] | |
| The Oz Saga: The City of Emeralds | Landon Parks | 2013 | The first book in the series finds Dorothy struggling with dreams from her past visit to Oz. After finding a locket in the woods, she starts to feel that perhaps finding it was not as much of a coincidence as she thought. After being torn back into the kingdom of Oz, she finds that the magical kingdom is no longer the great, fabled fairy-country it was on her past visit. Published by Griffin Young Readers. First book in the middle grade series 'The Oz Saga'[7] | |
| Return to "Return to Oz", and Other Tales | Justin MacCormack | 2014 | The collection of horror and dark fantasy stories including the titular story, themed around a man rediscovering his past and coming to terms with the disturbing moments he has experienced, set against the nostalgic memory of the film "Return to Oz". | |
| Dorothy Must Die | Danielle Paige | 2014 | A young adult re-imagining of the Oz series where Dorothy is a tyrannical ruler of Oz. The story follows many new characters including the main protagonist Amy Gumm. There are many adult themes throughout. | |
| The Wicked Will Rise | Danielle Paige | 2015 | The sequel to Dorothy Must Die. | |
| Yellow Brick War | Danielle Paige | 2016 | The third book in the Dorothy Must Die series. | |
| The End of Oz | Danielle Paige | 2017 | The fourth and final book in the Dorothy Must Die series. | |
| The Wicked Wizard of Oz | Jonathan Green | 2017 | An interactive adventure gamebook, part of the ACE Gamebooks range published by Snowbooks. | |
| A Taste of Oz | Robin Blasberg | 2020 | In this parody, published by YouthPLAYS, Dorothy seeks out the Wizard to escape from Oz. But does Toto have other plans? |