A biography of the author of "The Wizard of Oz", who invented a new kind of fairy tale, uniquely modern and American.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Kirkus Reviews
An impressively researched account of Baum's variegated career as writer, actor, impresario, filmmaker, and devoted family man, whose health and finances were both often precarious. Many amusing or telling anecdotes give a strong sense of the man's personality; Carpenter also includes plot summaries of most of his books and a fascinating afterword on ``Oz and the Censors.'' Exceptionally well illustrated, with b&w photos, drawings, or maps on nearly every page. Some cavils: parts of the book are almost too detailed (e.g., an entire chapter is devoted to the itinerary of a five-month vacation); and one might wish that some of the illustrations had been enlarged. Still, highly recommended for any collection whose young readers need to know not just ``something'' but quite a lot about this author. Bibliographies; index. (Biography. 9+) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
the man behind the curtain,
By
This review is from: L. Frank Baum: Royal Historian of Oz (Lerner Biographies) (Paperback)
Like many people (too many people, perhaps) I grew up with The Wizard of Oz only in movie form. For many years I didn't even KNOW it was based on a book, and I certainly didn't know anything about its creator, L.F. Baum. Though I knew there were other books written by him in the Oz series, I had no idea, until reading this biography, that there were over TEN other books in the Oz series alone. I guess ya' learn something new every day...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.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fair,
By A Customer
This review is from: L. Frank Baum: Royal Historian of Oz (Library Binding)
Well, definitely informative and helpful. Well-written. Text is accompanied by wonderful photos, but some of the info. is not always correct (just minor parts). It is not balanced either, sometimes they spend a chapter on a decade, other times a chapter for a five-week vacation...
4.0 out of 5 stars
On the Yellow Brick Road,
By
This review is from: L. Frank Baum: Royal Historian of Oz (Lerner Biographies) (Paperback)
Well, no. _L. Frank Baum: Royal Historian of Oz_ (1992) is not a definative biography of Baum. But then, I don't believe that authors Angelica Shirley Carpender and Jean Shirley ever intended it to be. Their aim was to write a good introductory biography that can be read by the average fourth grader or by an adult layperson. It is well researched, concise, and clearly written. And there are a generous number of photographs and illustrations.
The book was informative about several things that I knew about only in a sketchy way: the details of why Baum and artist W.W. Denslow came to a parting of the ways; the plots of the semi-autobiographical Aunt Jane's Nieces series of books; and the account of Frank and Maud Baum's trip to Egypt. The final chapter is entitled "Oz and the Censors". I am sorry to say that early censors of the Oz books were librarians (who offered the bizarre argument that if a child read one Oz book, he/she would want to read them all). I remember the 1987 lawsuit in which seven Tennessee fundamentalist families tried to get _The Wizard of Oz_ (1900) removed from the public school curriculum. (They failed.) I was glad to see that Edward Wagenknecht (a favorite critic of mine) was an early defender of Oz. So was _Collier's_ magazine and _The Detroit Times_ (which serialized _The Wizard of Oz_ when it was banned from the city library for teaching "a cowardly way of life"). Recommended. This is one of those books that is both well-written and unpretentious, an admirable combination.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
