L. Frank Baum: Royal Historian of Oz [Library Binding]

L.F. Baum had a pleasant childhood peppered with some unhappy experiences and generally was in poor health. Like many creative people (especially in the early 20th century) he was considered a dreamer and would probably come to no good, squandering his life and his money away on frivolous things. Time has proven this to be fortunately incorrect.

One of the first males to be deeply involved with the women's' suffrage movement, he started his own newspaper as a young child, borrowing news from other papers and news sources and creating poems and puzzles for his readers. He went on to work newspapers most of his life, on and off, doing a wide variety of jobs, including selling axle grease. All during this time he continued to tell stories and write. Indeed, he was one of the first authors to write stories geared specifically to children, and could even be considered the father of the modern children's book.

"L. Frank Baum" is packed with details of this little known man and shows a tremendous amount of effort and attention on the part of the author. Anyone above, say, 5th grade could easily use this book alone as the sole source on his life and times. However, it should be noted that the writing is rather dense with information and could be considered uninteresting reading-for-pleasure material for students who are merely curious about his life. Though richly illustrated with photographs, posters and book excerpts from Baum's life and books, a good deal of these illustrations are very teeny-tiny, making the details difficult to see. They would be more effective if enlarged even by 25%.

There is an excellent chapter on "Oz and the Censors", which is offset by a whole chapter just about a months' vacation. This sort of disjointed discussion of Baum's life and overemphasis on certain details shows up every now and then, causing the reader to sometimes say, "huh?" or forcing one to reread for greater clarity.

As far as school-aged children go, I would fancy that this book would serve more as a resource for paper writing than for sheer enjoyment due to the volume of facts and the dryness of the text. Still, it's an excellent book, meticulously researched, and it sheds some very much-needed light on the man whose book was the basis for one of the best-known movies in 20th century America. When we all listen to admire Ms. Garland singing "Over the Rainbow", or cackle like the Wicked Witch of the West, or laugh at the antics of the Cowardly Lion, we should stop and remember the kind, gentle man who gave the filmmaking world the idea for these characters.