Fiddleeebod

Here is a picture of my 104 year old edition of L. Frank Baum’s The Road to Oz. Mr. Baum had 9 more Oz books to write in his future when this story was published, but he already itched to escape Oz for other lands. He writes in the introduction:

-To my readers: Well, my dears, here is what you have asked for: another “Oz Book” about Dorothy’s strange adventures. Toto is in this story, because you wanted him to be there, and many other characters which you will recognize are in the story, too. Indeed, the wishes of my little correspondents have been considered as carefully as possible, and if the story is not exactly as you would have written it yourselves, you must remember that a story has to be a story before it can be written down, and the writer cannot change it much without spoiling it.

In the preface to “Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz” I said I would like to write some stories that were not “Oz” stories, because I thought I had written about Oz long enough; but since that volume was published I have been fairly deluged with letters from children imploring me to “write more about Dorothy,” and “more about OZ,” and since I write only to please the children I shall try to respect their wishes.-

Yes, L. Frank Baum was a most willing prisoner in Oz for the rest of his life, thanks to his ‘little correspondents’.

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General by Steve