The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

• Genre: Fiction; children’s literature classic; fantasy/adventure
• Originally Published: 1900
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 1030L; grades 3-8
• Structure/Length: 24 chapters; approx. 154 pages; approx. 4 hours on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Young Dorothy (later named “Dorothy Gale” in the third book) is whisked away by a cyclone to Oz, a fantasy land populated by a host of curious inhabitants. With some new friends at her side, Dorothy must evade the Wicked Witch of the West and seek the help of the great Wizard of Oz to get home to Kansas.

L. (Lyman) Frank Baum, Author

• Bio: 1856-1919; homeschooled until the age of 12; left academy schooling early and never earned a diploma; possessed an early interest in writing and theater; married suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage and adopted her interest in women’s suffrage; lived in Aberdeen, Dakota Territory, from 1888 to 1891, but business and career prospects there did not succeed; moved to Chicago; met with great commercial and critical success with the publication of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and went on to publish an additional 13 books in the Oz series
• Other Works: Father Goose, His Book (1899); The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904); Ozma of Oz (1907); Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz (1908); The Road to Oz (1909); The Emerald City of Oz (1910)
• Awards: YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens (for a 2010 graphic novel edition); School Library Journal’s Top 100 Children’s Novels (2012)