Baum, however, sometimes took this a wonderful (and wonderfully emotional) step further.

Of course, I had this self-same experience every time I read an Oz book, too: meeting again (and again) the familiar compatriots - those standard-bearer residents of The Marvelous Land. (I was seven at the time!) There’s no question that seeing these people again, whenever possible, made for a happily anticipated and ultimately rewarding occasion, unique in itself during childhood. For me as a little boy, this meant distant grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, family friends – and the best buddy from “the old neighborhood” after we moved away. One thing most children come to love very early on in life is the concept of “reunion-ing”: reuniting with those with whom there’s an emotional and/or familial tie, but who aren’t seen on a regular basis. In the process, I “fastened” for the first time on a specific characteristic of the series, and I hope you’ll find it fun to share here and now. From the onset, such a combination made Baum’s prose cross-generational in its appeal, but there’s no question he was basically writing “to please a child” (his own descriptive phrase, attendant to one of his pre-Oz efforts).Īll of this came back to me earlier this month when I was reflecting on the limitless joys of Oz characters and adventures. Frank Baum for fulfilling so many of my childhood expectations – in particular, one specific emotion he perhaps never realized his writing would achieve!īaum’s book, THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ, rolled off the presses exactly 120 years ago this May, and his sage storytelling and alternately quiet, uproarious, and sometimes sly humor not only permeated that adventure but all the other Oz tales that followed. This month’s blog is a long overdue gratitude to L.

Ozma of oz 1907