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5.0 out of 5 stars
What a Wonderful Treat for Christmas!!!, Oct 19 2003
This book has a rather peculiar history. Originally published in 1902, two years after Baum's success with The Wizard of Oz,the first printing contained 20 color illustrations. In the second printing, eight of the color illustrations were left out, replaced by numerous black and white marginal illustrations. So you can imagine the delight of Oz fans when they discover this lovely edition in full color readily available after so many years of black and white reprints of the original edition.The book is in three sections: "Youth", "Manhood", and "Old Age". Santa was discovered as an infant abandoned in the Forest of Burzee. The nymphs, fairies and elves adopted him and under the tutelage of Ak, the Master Woodsman of the World, Claus is bought up to appreciate and understand that all living things are sacred and deserve respect. In the "Manhood" section Baum tells the reader how Claus began making toys and delivering them to the world. He had his problems though. The Awgwas, who are evil creatures and can't tolerate happiness, continue to plague Claus first by intercepting his toys during delivery and then kidnapping Claus himself. "Old Age" describes the immortals' decision to take certain actions so that Claus can continue to give to the world. Numerous questions are answered here:
What is the reason for hanging stockings?
How and why did Santa enlist the help of reindeer?
Why does he slide down the chimney? As in the Wizard of Oz a good number of the characters here are Baum's own creations. You'll meet the knooks and the ryls, for example. You'll also meet the Gnome King who is rather benign here, but, by the end of Ozma of Oz, becomes the arch enemy of that fairy kingdom. Michael Hague's illustrations are glorious.In the "Illustrator's Note" he states that the illustrations took three times longer than he expected. Well, it certainly shows. This was a labor of love. The pictures are in two varieties, full color and two color. The endpapers show a snowy day in the woods, a small creature trudging through it with a sack on its back. This is indeed one of Mr. Hague's finest moments. I wish I could give this book a 10, 5 for the story and 5 for the pictures.
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