Finding Oz: How L. Frank Baum Discovered The Great American Story (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
Interesting! This version of Baum's life has been updated to include comments about what happens when an artist doesn't follow his or her way and is instead sidetracked by life, which is very much the case with Baum. I also found the attention to his mother in law, Mattie Gage, a tireless Suffragette and writer, to be enormously sympathetic and revealed much about the fight for women's votes in the 19th century. Caution: this is not a full biography of L. Frank Baum. It's the biography--hypothesis?--of the inception of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.As such, it's impossible to be sure of the facts. Where DID Baum get his ideas from? Golly, writers have been trying to answer that question for years, and getting into their own way more often than not. What we have here is L. Frank Baum's history, as it might have led to Oz. As such, it's fascinating. But if you're looking for a biography, look elsewhere--the book trails off as soon as he has the thing written.
What do You think about Finding Oz: How L. Frank Baum Discovered The Great American Story (2009)?
Love the part about Aberdeen, SD! I thought the book was a bit long and repetitive toward last.
—kamulcia
so good. so inspiring to know that Baum wrote the novel after all the ups and downs in his life.
—alexapyw
very interesting story of Frank Baum's background, mostly prior to writing the Oz books.
—cocobeans
