The Life and Works of L. Frank Baum
Ask the average American if they are familiar with L. Frank Baum and you will most likely be met with a blank stare. However, ask that same American if they have ever seen a little movie called The Wizard of Oz and they are likely to start telling you about their favorite character or line from the movie. The Wizard of Oz is tightly woven into the fabric of our country and we owe that to L. Frank Baum. He authored the book upon which the movie is based along with more than 350 various other literary works.
Lyman Frank Baum was born in Chittenango, New York, on May 15, 1856. He was the seventh of nine children born to Benjamin and Cynthia Baum. The Baum’s were a wealthy family thanks to Benjamin’s success in Pennsylvania’s oil fields. Frank, as he preferred to be called, was a sickly child. Despite his sickly nature, Frank was always described as jovial and the life of the party. He took an early interest in writing and printing. Nancy Koupal describes Baum as “an indulged child” who at age fourteen “owned (with his brother) his own printing press and published his own newspaper” (2).
Indulged or not, Baum went on to spend many years in the printing business. Baum published his own newspaper (some of which included advertisements), a trade journal about raising poultry (which was a national trend in the late 1800s), and even some of his own books. The writing and publishing that became part of Baum’s identity at an early age stuck with him throughout his life. During the 1880s, Baum served as editor to a small local newspaper in South Dakota. Later, his years in South Dakota would serve as the descriptive reservoirs from which he drew many of the Oz descriptions of Kansas.
Prior to his astronomical success with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its sequels, Frank Baum published a collection of rhyming prose stories. Mother Goose in Prose was published in 1897 and enjoyed moderate success. In 1899, Baum followed it up with Father Goose, His Book. This collection of poetry became the best-selling children’s book of 1899 in the United States.
Still flying high from his success with the Mother Goose and Father Goose books, Baum published another book in 1900. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was met with glowing reviews from critics and even more financial success that his previous successful works. The tale of Dorothy and her fantastic adventures in the Land of Oz was illustrated by W.W. Denslow. Children and adults alike loved the book. They loved it so much, in fact, that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was the best-selling children’s book in the United States for the next two years. Thirteen sequels written by Baum and twenty-one more were written by Ruth Plumly Thompson. To say the Land of Oz was popular would be an understatement.
Baum’s tale was different from fairy tales that had preceded it. In fact, that was what Baum was striving to accomplish. According to Roger Sale in Fairy Tales and After, Baum wanted the face of American children’s literature to change. Sale states that Baum wanted “an American children’s literature…free of morality and of disagreeable incident as well” (223). Much like Lewis Carroll before him, Baum sought to entertain children. He believed that the American education system contained enough lessons on morality for children. The books they picked up during their leisure reading time should seek “solely to please children” (Baum).
It is safe to say that L. Frank Baum achieved his goal. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has been entertaining children of all ages from more than one hundred years now. The book has been adapted to stage and screen. Of course, most people are most familiar with the 1939 film adaptation starring Judy Garland. The book also inspired Gregory Maguire to write his novel Wicked which has become one of the most popular Broadway musicals of the present day. It is safe to say that L. Frank Baum changed the face of American children’s literature as well as American popular culture. L. Frank Baum’s influence is alive and well.
Works Cited
Baum, L. Frank. "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." The Online Literature Library. 1900. Web. 12 June 2011.
Koupal, Nancy T. "The Wonderful Wizard of the West: L. Frank Baum in South Dakota, 1888-1891." L. Frank Baum's World of
Oz: A Classic Series at 100. Ed. Suzanne Rahn. Lanham, MA: Scarecrow, 2003. 1-20. Print.
"L. Frank Baum." Wikipedia. n.d. Web. 12 June 2011.
Sale, Roger. "L. Frank Baum and Oz." Fairy Tales and After. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1978. 223-43. Print.
**This essay was written in June 2011 for English 3305 (Children's Literature) at UTEP.**
Lyman Frank Baum was born in Chittenango, New York, on May 15, 1856. He was the seventh of nine children born to Benjamin and Cynthia Baum. The Baum’s were a wealthy family thanks to Benjamin’s success in Pennsylvania’s oil fields. Frank, as he preferred to be called, was a sickly child. Despite his sickly nature, Frank was always described as jovial and the life of the party. He took an early interest in writing and printing. Nancy Koupal describes Baum as “an indulged child” who at age fourteen “owned (with his brother) his own printing press and published his own newspaper” (2).
Indulged or not, Baum went on to spend many years in the printing business. Baum published his own newspaper (some of which included advertisements), a trade journal about raising poultry (which was a national trend in the late 1800s), and even some of his own books. The writing and publishing that became part of Baum’s identity at an early age stuck with him throughout his life. During the 1880s, Baum served as editor to a small local newspaper in South Dakota. Later, his years in South Dakota would serve as the descriptive reservoirs from which he drew many of the Oz descriptions of Kansas.
Prior to his astronomical success with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its sequels, Frank Baum published a collection of rhyming prose stories. Mother Goose in Prose was published in 1897 and enjoyed moderate success. In 1899, Baum followed it up with Father Goose, His Book. This collection of poetry became the best-selling children’s book of 1899 in the United States.
Still flying high from his success with the Mother Goose and Father Goose books, Baum published another book in 1900. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was met with glowing reviews from critics and even more financial success that his previous successful works. The tale of Dorothy and her fantastic adventures in the Land of Oz was illustrated by W.W. Denslow. Children and adults alike loved the book. They loved it so much, in fact, that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was the best-selling children’s book in the United States for the next two years. Thirteen sequels written by Baum and twenty-one more were written by Ruth Plumly Thompson. To say the Land of Oz was popular would be an understatement.
Baum’s tale was different from fairy tales that had preceded it. In fact, that was what Baum was striving to accomplish. According to Roger Sale in Fairy Tales and After, Baum wanted the face of American children’s literature to change. Sale states that Baum wanted “an American children’s literature…free of morality and of disagreeable incident as well” (223). Much like Lewis Carroll before him, Baum sought to entertain children. He believed that the American education system contained enough lessons on morality for children. The books they picked up during their leisure reading time should seek “solely to please children” (Baum).
It is safe to say that L. Frank Baum achieved his goal. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has been entertaining children of all ages from more than one hundred years now. The book has been adapted to stage and screen. Of course, most people are most familiar with the 1939 film adaptation starring Judy Garland. The book also inspired Gregory Maguire to write his novel Wicked which has become one of the most popular Broadway musicals of the present day. It is safe to say that L. Frank Baum changed the face of American children’s literature as well as American popular culture. L. Frank Baum’s influence is alive and well.
Works Cited
Baum, L. Frank. "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." The Online Literature Library. 1900. Web. 12 June 2011.
Koupal, Nancy T. "The Wonderful Wizard of the West: L. Frank Baum in South Dakota, 1888-1891." L. Frank Baum's World of
Oz: A Classic Series at 100. Ed. Suzanne Rahn. Lanham, MA: Scarecrow, 2003. 1-20. Print.
"L. Frank Baum." Wikipedia. n.d. Web. 12 June 2011.
Sale, Roger. "L. Frank Baum and Oz." Fairy Tales and After. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1978. 223-43. Print.
**This essay was written in June 2011 for English 3305 (Children's Literature) at UTEP.**