The Royal Book of Oz/Appendix

by Ruth Plumly Thompson

A LITTLE STORY ABOUT ALL OF THE DELIGHTFUL OZ BOOKS

Mr. Baum's charming stories of the Fairyland of Oz belong to the children, tens of thousands of whom have written to "The Royal Historian of Oz" in the years that these delightful books have been entertaining little folks all over the land. They write of their joy in the stories, giving suggestions for new ones and begging, always, for more.

Imagination and the Happy Spirit are the foundations of all of the Oz books. The natural child-impulse for adventure and the child's delight in invention are stimulated by the wonderful adventures of the quaint people of the Fairyland of Oz and the marvelous magic wrought by the Wizard of Oz, Glinda, the Good Sorceress and the lovely girl ruler, Ozma of Oz.

Mr. Baum loved and understood children. He de

lighted to have them about him. He knew what they wanted and he was happiest when he was making his great audience of little folks happy. It is this close and loving contact with childhood that has put the Oz books in very front rank of all the juvenile books. John R. Neill’s whimsical and astonishing pictures step hand-in-hand with Mr. Baum’s stones. As illustrations for children they have no equals.

"I thought everybody believed in Oz," said the Scarecrow to Happy Toko, when the foolish little Princes of the Silver Island said, "It is not on the map." Of course, the Silver Island isn’t on the map, either, but all over America—and all over the world, in fact—the children do believe in Oz. Nearly twenty years ago little girls, who are mothers today, were

reading "The Land of Oz." There are plenty of grown-up little girls who have read all of the wonderful stories of Oz—and "The Royal Book of and Oz" is the fourteenth.

Mr. Baum used to like to say the Oz books "are for children from six to sixty." A child can hardly be too little to enjoy them— for if the very little ones haven’t learned to read yet Mama or Daddy will get as much fun as the children in reading them aloud, and no boy or girl can be too little to enjoy Mr. Neill's funny and lovely pictures.

Each year there is a new Oz book, and there are thousands of girls and boys who just hate to grow up, for fear their folks will think they are getting too old want the new one. It was nearly years ago twenty that Jack Pumpkinhead came to life in "The Land Oz," and met the Scarecrow (who then was King of the Emerald City} and the Tin Woodman. In this book first appeared Ozma, the lovely little girl Princess, who became the real Queen of all of the Fairyland of Oz.

"Ozma of Oz" followed, and Dorothy, the Scarecrow and the the Woodman had some wonderful adventures. In this book the children first met the Cowardly Lion, the Hungry Tiger, the bad old Nome King and Billina, the Yellow Hen. "Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz," the next Oz book, is brim-full of the tricks of the jolly little Wizard of Oz, but when the Wizard's tricks fail Princess Ozma uses her Magic Belt to save the situation. In "The Road to Oz" Dorothy meets Button Bright and the funny Shaggy Man and there are adventures a'plenty.

In "The Emerald City of Oz" the wicked old Nome King and his terrible allies menace the Kingdom of Oz with dire disaster, but Glinda the Good—lovely Sorceress of Oz—works a magic spell, and Nome King is forced to send his army home without doing any harm Oz folks. "The Patchwork Girl Oz" is a great favorite and Mr. Neill, "the Royal Painter of Oz," has made many funny pictures of her in the Oz book named after her. Scraps and the Glass Cat with pink brains are pretty busy in this book.

In "Tik-Tok of Oz" Queen Ann of Oogaboo, with an army of sixteen officers and one private soldier, sets out to conquer the world. Betsy Bobbin and Hank the Mule are shipwrecked and take refuge in the Rose Kingdom. The Shaggy Man sets out to find his long-lost brother, held captive by the Nome King. Tik-Tok decides to help him. After many exciting experiences the adventurers return safely to the Emerald City. Of course the Scarecrow is one of the jolliest of all the delightful Oz people and so the next book Mr. Baum wrote was called "The Scarecrow of Oz" and in it are related many new adventures of that remarkable fellow. "Rinkitink in Oz" begins in a strange land, far from the dominions of the lovely girl queen of the Emerald City. Dorothy and the funny little Wizard of Oz come into the story and the happy ending comes in true Oz fashion.

"The Lost Princess of Oz" is one of the most surprising of the Oz stories. There are strange adventures in the Winkie country, Button Bright loses himself and the Big Lavender Bear and the Little Pink Bear figure entertainingly. All of the children were overjoyed when "The Tin Woodman of Oz" was put to the forefront in the next book, which bears his name.

The Tin Woodman and his friends have a terrible experience with the wicked giantess, Mrs. Yoop, but the happy spirit and the brave devotion that seems to be a part of the make-up of all Oz people, bring them safely through. In "The Magic of Oz" the jolly little Wizard of Oz is found at his best and Dorothy's adventures with him are truly wonderful. Two strange races appeared in "Glinda of Oz," the thirteenth Oz book. These are the Flatheads, who carried their canned brains in their pockets, because their heads were so flat on top that there was no room in them for brains, and the Skeezers, who lived in a glass-domed city on a magic island. Princess Ozma and Dorothy had many strange experiences when they tried to stop a war between the Flatheads and the Skeezers and were rescued from dire peril by the sorcery of Glina the Good. The publishers cannot close this story of the Oz books without quoting one of the thousands of letters to Mr. Baum from child readers. This one comes from far off Australia.

241 St. Kilda Street, Brighton.

Melbourne, Victoria,

Australia.

To L. Frank Baum, Esq.,

Royal Historian of Oz,

Hollywood, California, U.S.A.

Oct. 23, 1919.

Dear Mr. Baum:

Our Daddy when in America early this year was told of your wonderful Oz stores. He brought back with him six books, and every Wednesday night he reads to us all for an hour before we to bed. We have Ozma of Oz, The Lost Princess of Oz, The Emerald City of Oz, Rinkitink in Oz, The Tin Woodman of Oz, and The Patchwork Girl of Oz.

We love your stories so much that we are very sorry our Daddy did not bring with him all the Oz books you have written.

We want you to have sent to us all the others, whose titles are—The Road to Oz, Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, The Land oz Oz, The Scarecrow of Oz, Tik-Tok of Oz, and The Magic of Oz. Also any other Oz books you have written.

Our Daddy is writing this letter for but our names are—

Betty Allen. Aged 9 1/2.

Margery Allen. Aged 8.

Dorothy Allen. Aged 6.

Billy Allen. Aged 4.

We have a little brother named Johnny Allen aged 10 months, but he is too young yet to understand your stories. We are enclosing a photograph of us all.

Enclosed please find Money Order for £2-1O-O which we hope will be enough to pay for the books and the postage. Our Daddy suggests that if not enough to please send the books and we will forward the balance by post.

We hope you write a lot more Oz stories. Last Wednesday night we finished the last book and we will have to wait until the new ones come along.

With love and best wishes.

Yours sincerely,

The Allen Kids.

If you want to bring real happiness to any little girls or boys, anywhere, give them an Oz book. The only trouble that can possibly come to you is that you may have to buy more Oz books if you begin. But it will be worth any trouble that you may take—for the spirit of Oz is the Happy Spirit.

The Publishers.