How the Wizard Came to Oz [Hardcover]

Donald Abbott (Author)

Book Description

Circus showman Oscar Zoroaster arrives by balloon in the land of Oz, becomes the Wizard of Oz, and defeats the Wicked Witches of the East and West.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 120 pages
• Publisher: Books of Wonder (November 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0929605241
• ISBN-13: 978-0929605241
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,405,701 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A WIZ of a book!, September 24, 2000

By 

Michael (Miami, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How the Wizard Came to Oz (Paperback)

In this prequel to 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' by Baum, Donald Abbott writes the story of how Oscar Zoraster becomes the great and terrible Wizard of Oz. I don't want to reveal everything because I would ruin the book but we find out how the Wicked Witch of the West came into possession of the Winged Monkeys, we learn the origins of the Yellow Brick Road, and the mysterious powers of the magical Silver Shoes. The Wicked Witch of the East also plays a major role in the story. The book is incredible and all though it may contradict some of the Oz stories by Baum it remains pretty faithful and seems to answer a lot of puzzling questions from the official Oz books. You won't be disappointed with Abbott's wonderful illustrations for the book which are followed in the footsteps of W.W. Denslow(original illustrator for 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'). I recommend EVERYONE to read this book*

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Oscar Zoroaster in Oz, April 7, 2005

By 

Sam A. Milazzo (Sydney, N.S.W Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How the Wizard Came to Oz (Hardcover)

I couldn't order this book from Amazon because it was out-of-print, but I did order it from BiblioQuest and I got it, eventually. I don't know if it was ever publsihed in Hardcover (I got Paperback), but I enjoyed getting it all the same.
Oscar has been living in a circus (we learn how long), and is tired of doing ventriloquism. So the Ringmaster has him take the job of a balloonist. After that, a storm takes him away from his home and after passing him over a desert, lands him in a yellow country, where he is suddenly proclaimed to be a wizard. A Wicked Witch appears and threatens to destroy him, but his skills trick her into believing that he has defeated her. While ruling over the Winkies in the yellow castle (Scarecrow makes a cameo), the Wicked West Witch talks with (her sister) the Wicked Witch of the East and learns about the Golden Cap, so she goes off to steal it. (Cowardly Lion's cameo). As Oscar is doing service to the Winkies, the Wicked Witch suddenly returns with the Winged Monkeys and Oscar escapes, but she sends them off after him. Thankfully, Glinda knows of the trouble and saves him (I loved Glinda's appearances in this book!). His balloon again lands him in a country, this time green, and again is declared a Wizard. The Emerald City is built, and the Wizard has his own new home, but after an Army of Kalidahs attack, the Emerald City gains a bit more protection. Meanwhile, the Wicked Witch of the East practises the power of her Magic Silver Shoes, in trying to conquer the Emerald City, but her plans get foiled everytime by Glinda. (Nick Chopper the Tin Woodman's cameo, origin of Green Spectacles and Guardian of the Gates). The 2 Wicked Witches of Oz suddenly come up with the ultimate scheme to defeat the Wizard of Oz and conquer the Emerald City, and "OZ" has no idea on how to stop them. But again, Glinda helps him and the Emerald City is saved from the Wicked Witches of Oz. He then hides himself in his Throne Room, and the story ends with 'until one day . . . but that is another story'.
Just like "Looking for a Rainbow: The Story of Dorothy", this book has a few (actually a lot more!) quotes from and a similar scenario to "MGM's the Wizard of Oz" (but none are the 'rainbow' reference). Donald Abbott's pictures in the book do resemble W. W. Desnlow's, but are not entirely the same. They are all in black-and-white, covering a full-page or half-page, with thick lines, and sometimes the Wicked Witch of the East's eyes looks like she's wearing some bad glasses. Also, even though it has many origins (including the Giant spider that the Lion kills later), I'm disapointed that the origin of the Yellow Brick (or actually two of them) is not the same as that from Roger S. Baum's "Dorothy of Oz" book, so unfortunately the Good Witch of the North does NOT appear - although she is mentioned. Also, Oscar does not have anything to do Ozma's disappearance, so Mombi doesn't appear. Those of you who have "the Annotated Wizard of Oz" will know of W. W. Desnlow's 6 Panel drawings for the 1902 'Wizard of Oz" Musical Stage production with the Wicked Witch (of the East) appearing on it. That is what she looks like in this story, slightly different. I belive that 'the Adventures of OZ in Oz' continues in "How the Wizard Saved Oz", again before Dorothy's arrival. I wonder if I'll get that book too . . .

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice, but unnecessary, December 1, 2003

By 

Blake Petit "Novelist, columnist & reviewer" (Ama, Louisiana United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How the Wizard Came to Oz (Paperback)

As much as I love the Oz books, it's great to know that even today writers continue to go back to Baum's wonderful world and try to build and expand upon it. That said, this book, "How the Wizard Came to Oz," is a nice enough entry but doesn't feel all that necessary.

The book tells, as the title implies, the story of how Oscar Zoroaster went from being a carnival man in America to the Great and Terrible Wizard of Oz. It tells of his early encounters with the Wicked Witches of both the East and the West, how people in the Emerald City came to wear green spectacles and fills in a lot of other gaps in the first book.

But some of the things Abbott delves into in this book feel kind of superfluous. Cameos by all three of Dorothy's original companions -- the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion and the Tin Woodman -- add nothing to the story and seem to be pure padding. Other things, like a quick joke referring to the classic MGM film, just distract you from Baum's Oz and jerk you out into the real world where you've seen Judy Garland deliver this joke a thousand times in a thousand re-watchings of the movie.

It's a decent book if you're an Ozophile and want to get everything worth getting, but for the casual reader, if you take a pass you'll have nothing to regret.