The author's introduction to Princess Ozma.

"at the top of the rainbow

Robin can fly.

Birds can swim on the rainbow—

So why, why can't I be like them? "

(From the lyrics "On the Rainbow" in The Wizard of Oz. Lyrics: Edgar Y. Harper) Lyman L. Frankbaum (L. Frankbaum, 1856 ~ 19 19) was born in Chitnango, new york. His father, Benjamin Wood Baum, is an oil tycoon, and his mother, Cynthia Baum (formerly known as Stanton), is an activist dedicated to the feminist movement. Baum grew up with his seven brothers and sisters in a big house in the north of Syracuse. "The tall house is bathed in soft sunshine, which is very cool ... it is strange, but beautiful. There are many door wings and triangular walls upstairs, and there are wide balconies on both sides. " This is Baum's later description of the house in Dot and Toth (1901). Although it is a big house, there is no running water. He was sickly since childhood and was taken special care of by his family. His fascination with fairy tales and fantasy stories almost reached the level of "daydreaming". His parents worried that it would affect his character development and decided to send him to a military school. From 1868 to 1870, I studied in Pieske Military Academy for two years. The rigorous life in the military academy did not improve his character, but led to his mental breakdown. His parents had to take him home from the military school and let him develop his interests.

Baum showed his talent for writing and telling stories since he was a child, and the family newspaper he started at the age of 15 has achieved certain success in the local area. He also raised poultry with his father and helped him edit poultry breeding records. In addition, he writes columns for new york farms and dairy farmers. Since his father owned several theaters, Baum later started acting again. In new york, he once performed his own plays with May Roberts. George Brooke and Stirling Comedy are played by him and May Roberts respectively. Baum has a wide range of interests. As an adult, he has engaged in various occupations, including journalist, editor, actor, company employee, small farmer, grocery store owner and so on. For a long time, he had to travel around the world for business, and his footprints even reached China. From 1982 to 1983, he owned an opera house. During this period, he also went out to interview with his team of journalists. 1982, he married Maud Gezi and later had four sons. As a novelist, Baum's first novel was Essays by Mother Goose (1897). This work is adapted from the story he told the children, and the last chapter introduces Dorothy, a peasant woman. In the introduction of the book, he mentioned that the purpose of writing this book is to create modern fairy tales, which will not scare children like the fairy tales written by the brothers Grimm. 1899, his story collection "Father Goose's Book" was also published, which quickly became a best seller. One night, when he was telling stories to his sons, he suddenly had unprecedented inspiration. While calming the child down, he grabbed a piece of paper to write on and recorded the inspiration excitedly. This is a story about emerald city, and it is also the original idea of The Adventures of Oz. This book was designed by W·W· Danslow with illustrations and cover, published by Baum at his own expense 1900, and sold 90,000 copies in the first two years. After the publication of The Wizard of Oz, in a short time, the author received thousands of letters from young readers asking him to continue writing this story. Later, at the request of readers, Baum really wrote a series of fairy tales based on his own virtual "Oz", such as emerald city in Oz, Tin Man in Oz, Hungry Tiger in Oz and so on. He wrote 14 fairy tales in this series. This does not include the Collection of Short Stories in the Country of Oz published by 19 14, and other 10 Oz fairy tales which are inextricably linked with the characters in the country of Oz.

190 1 year, the first part of the Oz series was adapted into a musical, and Baum participated in the screenwriter and lyrics creation. 19 14, Baum participated in the filming of "The Patch Girl of Oz". In the same year, Oz Film Production Company (later renamed as Characteristic Film Company) was established in Los Angeles, and1914 ~1915 was the director. The well-equipped studio on Santa Monica Avenue covers 7 acres. However, the company went bankrupt and only made two films with the theme of the country of Oz, one was The Scarecrow in the country of Oz and the other was The Magic Cloak in the country of Oz. However, in the following days, the story of the country of Oz was put on the screen many times. Among them, Judy Garland, who was only 1939 16 years old, was nominated for the best picture in the Oscar.

In addition to fairy tales written under his real name, Baum also wrote six books for boys under the pseudonym of Floyd Axe and 24 books for girls under the pseudonym of Edith Van Damme. He wrote two novels under the pseudonym of skyler Staunton: The Clown's Destiny (1905) and Fate's Daughter (1906). He wrote 62 books in his life, most of which were written for children.

Baum spent most of his life in illness. After moving to Hollywood, he named his house Oz House and spent the rest of his life there. 19 19 The heart stopped beating on May 6th. But the children's magical adventure in Oz is not over. Entrusted by Baum Publishing House, Ruth Plomley Thompson continued to write the series 65,438+09 for The Country of Oz. Writers like this include Roger Baum, Baum's grandson, John R. Nell, the illustrator, and so on. Until 1995, the United States published the latest story book of Oz. As Baum once said:

"... children should find happiness in fairy tales and easily forget those unpleasant experiences. "

The Adventures of Oz is such a fairy tale that constantly creates happiness for children.