L. Frank Baum (1856–1919,) fully Lyman Frank Baum, was an American journalist and writer. His many children’s books about the imaginary Land of Oz, including Father Goose: His Book (1899,) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900,) and other Oz books.
Born in Chittenango, New York, Baum worked as a magazine editor until the publication and tremendous success of his second children’s book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900,) which was staged as a musical in 1901 and made into the classic movie (1939,) starring Judy Garland, Bert Lahr, and Ray Bolger.
Baum traveled in Europe and then settled in California, where he continued to write stories about the Land of Oz. Baum wrote some 60 books, sometimes using pseudonyms—his many juveniles were popular in their day.
Baum’s works anticipated such century-later commonplaces as television, augmented reality, laptop computers (The Master Key,) wireless telephones (Tik-Tok of Oz,) women in high-risk and action-heavy occupations (Mary Louise in the Country,) and the ubiquity of advertising on clothing (Aunt Jane’s Nieces at Work.)
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Imagination has brought mankind through the dark ages to its present state of civilization. Imagination led Columbus to discover America. Imagination led Franklin to discover electricity. Imagination has given us the steam engine, the telephone, the talking-machine, and the automobile, for these things had to be dreamed of before they became realities. So I believe that dreams—daydreams, you know, with your eyes wide open and your brain machinery whizzing—are likely to lead to the betterment of the world. The imaginative child will become the imaginative man or woman most apt to invent, and therefore to foster, civilization.
—L. Frank Baum
Topics: Imagination
That proves you are unusual, returned the Scarecrow; and I am convinced the only people worthy of consideration in this world are the unusual ones. For the common folks are like the leaves of a tree, and live and die unnoticed.
—L. Frank Baum
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