May 17, 2022 – The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

On this day in 1900, L. Frank Baum’s classic novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was first published! Baum assembled the first copy himself, and presented it to his sister. He had already written two successful children’s books when he wrote Oz. Many of the characters and ideas in the book were inspired by Baum’s real life.
A lot of places claim to be the inspiration for the land of Oz and the Emerald City. A local legend in Holland, Michigan (where Baum once lived) claims the Emerald City was based on a well known castle-like building in the Castle Park community. And the yellow brick road was said to be based on an actual road paved with bricks near the Peekskill Military Academy, which Baum attended. In a 1903 magazine interview, Baum said the name “Oz” came from his filing cabinet, which had a drawer labeled “O-Z”.
Baum was inspired by classic fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. But he was also extremely influenced by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, published in 1865. He saw the character of Alice as the reason for the book’s popularity, since she was a child that young readers could identify with. That’s why he decided to make Dorothy the protagonist of his story.
Dorothy Gale was based on Baum’s wife niece, Dorothy Gage. The girl died as an infant in 1898, during the time Baum was writing his novel. He named the character after her and dedicated the book to his wife. There are some noticeable differences between the book and the 1939 movie starring Judy Garland. In the book, Dorothy is given silver shoes. But the color was changed to ruby red for the movie, because the filmmakers thought it looked better in Technicolor.
Originally, Baum wrote the novel without any intent of producing sequels. However, after thousands of children wrote letters to him, he acquiesced. Ultimately, he wrote 13 sequels and several Oz short stories. In it’s first 6 months of publication, the book sold 90,000 copies, and it was the best selling book for 2 years. Learn more here.