L Frank Baum Popular Books

L Frank Baum Biography & Facts

Lyman Frank Baum (; May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an American author best known for his children's fantasy books, particularly The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, part of a series. In addition to the 14 Oz books, Baum penned 41 other novels (not including four lost, unpublished novels), 83 short stories, over 200 poems, and at least 42 scripts. He made numerous attempts to bring his works to the stage and screen; the 1939 adaptation of the first Oz book became a landmark of 20th-century cinema. Born and raised in upstate New York, Baum moved west after an unsuccessful stint as a theater producer and playwright. He and his wife opened a store in South Dakota and he edited and published a newspaper. They then moved to Chicago, where he worked as a newspaper reporter and published children's literature, coming out with the first Oz book in 1900. While continuing his writing, among his final projects he sought to establish a film studio focused on children's films in Los Angeles, California. His works anticipated such 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 clothes advertising (Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work). Childhood and early life Baum was born in Chittenango, New York, in 1856 into a devout Methodist family. He had German, Scots-Irish, and English ancestry. He was the seventh of nine children of Cynthia Ann (née Stanton) and Benjamin Ward Baum, only five of whom survived into adulthood. "Lyman" was the name of his father's brother, but he always disliked it and preferred his middle name "Frank". His father succeeded in many businesses, including barrel-making, oil drilling in Pennsylvania, and real estate. Baum grew up on his parents' expansive estate called Rose Lawn, which he fondly recalled as a sort of paradise. Rose Lawn was located in Mattydale, New York. Frank was a sickly, dreamy child, tutored at home with his siblings. From the age of 12, he spent two miserable years at Peekskill Military Academy, but after being severely disciplined for daydreaming, he had a possibly psychogenic heart attack and was allowed to return home.Baum started writing early in life, possibly prompted by his father buying him a cheap printing press. He had always been close to his younger brother Henry (Harry) Clay Baum, who helped in the production of The Rose Lawn Home Journal. The brothers published several issues of the journal, including advertisements from local businesses, which they gave to family and friends for free. By the age of 17, Baum established a second amateur journal called The Stamp Collector, printed an 11-page pamphlet called Baum's Complete Stamp Dealers' Directory, and started a stamp dealership with friends.At 20, Baum took on the national craze of breeding fancy poultry. He specialized in raising the Hamburg chicken. In March 1880, he established a monthly trade journal, The Poultry Record and, in 1886, when Baum was 30 years old, his first book was published: The Book of the Hamburgs: A Brief Treatise upon the Mating, Rearing, and Management of the Different Varieties of Hamburgs.Baum had a flair for being the spotlight of fun in the household, including during times of financial difficulties. His selling of fireworks made the Fourth of July memorable. His skyrockets, Roman candles, and fireworks filled the sky, while many people around the neighborhood would gather in front of the house to watch the displays. Christmas was even more festive. Baum dressed as Santa Claus for the family. His father would place the Christmas tree behind a curtain in the front parlor so that Baum could talk to everyone while he decorated the tree without people managing to see him. He maintained this tradition all his life. Career Theater Baum embarked on his lifetime infatuation—and wavering financial success—with the theater. A local theatrical company duped him into replenishing their stock of costumes on the promise of leading roles coming his way. Disillusioned, Baum left the theater—temporarily—and went to work as a clerk in his brother-in-law's dry goods company in Syracuse. This experience may have influenced his story "The Suicide of Kiaros", first published in the literary journal The White Elephant. A fellow clerk one day had been found locked in a store room dead, probably from suicide. Baum could never stay away long from the stage. He performed in plays under the stage names of Louis F. Baum and George Brooks. In 1880, his father built him a theater in Richburg, New York, and Baum set about writing plays and gathering a company to act in them. The Maid of Arran proved a modest success, a melodrama with songs based on William Black's novel A Princess of Thule. Baum wrote the play and composed songs for it (making it a prototypical musical, as its songs relate to the narrative), and acted in the leading role. His aunt Katharine Gray played his character's aunt. She was the founder of Syracuse Oratory School, and Baum advertised his services in her catalog to teach theater, including stage business, play writing, directing, translating (French, German, and Italian), revision, and operettas. On November 9, 1882, Baum married Maud Gage, a daughter of Matilda Joslyn Gage, a famous women's suffrage and feminist activist. A local newspaper reported that their ceremony was "one of equality" and that their marriage vows were "precisely the same." While Baum was touring with The Maid of Arran, the theater in Richburg caught fire during a production of Baum's ironically titled parlor drama Matches, destroying the theater as well as the only known copies of many of Baum's scripts, including Matches, as well as costumes. The South Dakota years In July 1888, Baum and his wife moved to Aberdeen, Dakota Territory where he opened a store called "Baum's Bazaar". His habit of giving out wares on credit led to the eventual bankrupting of the store, so Baum turned to editing the local newspaper The Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer where he wrote the column Our Landlady. Following the death of Sitting Bull at the hands of Indian agency police, Baum recommended the wholesale extermination of all America's native peoples in a column that he wrote on December 20, 1890 (full text below). It is unclear whether Baum meant it as a satire or not, especially since his mother-in-law Matilda Joslyn Gage received an honorary adoption into the Wolf Clan of the Mohawk Nation and was a fierce defender of Native American rights, but on January 3, 1891, he returned to the subject in an editorial response to the Wounded Knee Massacre: The Pioneer has before declared that our only safety depends upon the total extirmination [sic] of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries, we had better, in order to protect our civilization, follow it up by one more wrong and wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the face of the e.... Discover the L Frank Baum popular books. Find the top 100 most popular L Frank Baum books.

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  • The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus synopsis, comments

    The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus

    L. Frank Baum

    The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus L. Frank Baum Every child knows about Santa Claus, the jolly man who brings gifts to all on Christmas. There are many stories that tell of h...

  • Wizard of Oz synopsis, comments

    Wizard of Oz

    L. Frank Baum

    Follow the Yellow Brick Road ... Scarecrow! the Great & Powerful Oz, The Cowardly Lion and all your favourite characters. Your Illustrated Deluxe Illustrated Edition contain...

  • The Collected Letters of George Sand and Gustave Flaubert synopsis, comments

    The Collected Letters of George Sand and Gustave Flaubert

    Gustave Flaubert & George Sand

    Gustave Flaubert (18211880) was an influential French writer who was perhaps the leading exponent of literary realism of his country. He is known especially for his first published...

  • The Gift of the Magi and Other New York City Stories synopsis, comments

    The Gift of the Magi and Other New York City Stories

    O. Henry

    This carefully crafted ebook: "The Gift of the Magi and Other New York City Stories" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. Table o...

  • Classic Tales of Christmas synopsis, comments

    Classic Tales of Christmas

    Editors of Canterbury Classics & Ken Mondschein

    Celebrate the joy of Christmas with these classic holiday stories and poems.This collection features more than 20 stories and poems celebrating Christmas, including works from este...

  • The Wizard of Oz synopsis, comments

    The Wizard of Oz

    L. Frank Baum, Daisy Alberto & W.W. Denslow

    Baum's story of Dorothy, carried by a cyclone from a Kansas farm to the land of the Tin Woodman, Scarecrow, and Cowardly Lion, was published in May 1900. By the following January, ...

  • Wild Things synopsis, comments

    Wild Things

    Bruce Handy

    An irresistible, nostalgic, insightfuland “consistently intelligent and funny” (The New York Times Book Review)ramble through classic children’s literature from Vanity Fair contrib...

  • The Gift of the Magi and Other New York Stories synopsis, comments

    The Gift of the Magi and Other New York Stories

    O. Henry

    This carefully crafted ebook: "The Gift of the Magi and Other New York Stories" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. Table of Con...

  • 7 best short stories by Hans Christian Andersen synopsis, comments

    7 best short stories by Hans Christian Andersen

    Hans Christian Andersen & August Nemo

    Hans Christian Andersen, born in Denmark in 1805, practically invented the writing of eventyrs; the adventure fairy tale, or fantastic tale. Although he wrote a broad range of work...

  • The Witch of Maracoor synopsis, comments

    The Witch of Maracoor

    Gregory Maguire

    The multimillioncopy bestselling story of Wicked comes full circle in The Witch of Maracoor, the final installment of Gregory Maguire’s Another Day seriesFollowing a confrontation ...

  • The Complete Short Stories synopsis, comments

    The Complete Short Stories

    O. Henry

    Most of O. Henry's stories are set in his own time, the early 20th century. Many take place in New York City and deal for the most part with ordinary people: clerks, policemen,...

  • The Wizard of Oz synopsis, comments

    The Wizard of Oz

    L. Frank Baum

    “We’re off to see the Wizard! The wonderful Wizard of Oz!” Rediscover L. Frank Baum's timeless children’s classic that has charmed readers for generations.Readers of all ages will ...

  • The Real Wizard of Oz synopsis, comments

    The Real Wizard of Oz

    Rebecca Loncraine

    In the first major literary biography of L. Frank Baum, Rebecca Loncraine tells the story of Oz as you've never heard it, with a look behind the curtain at the vivid life and eccen...

  • Finding Dorothy synopsis, comments

    Finding Dorothy

    Elizabeth Letts

    This richly imagined novel tells the story behind The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the book that inspired the iconic film, through the eyes of author L. Frank Baum’s intrepid wife, Maud...

  • Classic Authors Super Set Series 2 synopsis, comments

    Classic Authors Super Set Series 2

    Emily Brontë, Charlotte Brontë, Anne Brontë, The Bronte Sisters, Jack London, L. Frank Baum, James Matthew Barrie, Emily Dickinson & P.G. Wodehouse

    Contents: James Allen: The Complete Collection J. M. Barrie: The Complete Novels L. Frank Baum: Oz: The Complete Collection The Brontë Sisters: The Complete Novels Emily Dick...

  • L. Frank Baum synopsis, comments

    L. Frank Baum

    Katharine M. Rogers

    Since it was first introduced over a hundred years ago in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum's world of Oz has become one of the most enduring and beloved creations in child...

  • Delphi Complete Works of L. Frank Baum synopsis, comments

    Delphi Complete Works of L. Frank Baum

    L. Frank Baum

    For the first time ever in print or digital publishing, Delphi Classics is proud to present the complete fictional works of master storyteller L. Frank Baum. This monumental eBook ...

  • The Oracle of Maracoor synopsis, comments

    The Oracle of Maracoor

    Gregory Maguire

    Multimillioncopy bestselling author Gregory Maguire brings us the enchanting second novel in the series Another Day, returning to the world he first created in Wicked.The Orac...

  • A Brief Guide To OZ synopsis, comments

    A Brief Guide To OZ

    Paul Simpson

    What if Dorothy Gale wasn't the only person who went to see the Wizard of Oz? MGM's landmark 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland, did not mark the beginning of adve...

  • The Wizard of Oz Megapack synopsis, comments

    The Wizard of Oz Megapack

    L. Frank Baum & Ruth Plumly Thompson

    Whether you are new to the Land of Oz or a returning friend, this volume offers hours of reading pleasure. Collected in The Wizard of Oz Megapack are no less than 17 complete Oz b...