Folklore, legends, myths and
fairy tales have followed childhood
through the ages, for every healthy
youngster has a wholesome and
instinctive love for stories
fantastic, marvelous and manifestly
unreal. The winged fairies of
Grimm and Andersen have brought
more happiness to childish hearts
than all other human creations.
Yet the old
time fairy tale, having served
for generations,
may now be classed as "historical" in
the children's library; for the
time has come for a series of
newer "wonder tales" in which
the stereotyped genie, dwarf
and fairy are eliminated, together
with all the horrible and blood-curdling
incidents devised by their authors
to point a fearsome moral to
each tale. Modern education includes
morality; therefore the modern
child seeks only entertainment
in its wonder tales and gladly
dispenses with all disagreeable
incident.
Having this
thought in mind, the story
of "The Wonderful Wizard
of Oz" was written solely to
please children of today. It
aspires to being a modernized
fairy tale, in which the wonderment
and joy are retained and the
heartaches and nightmares are
left out.
L. Frank Baum
Chicago, April,
1900.
More on
Frank Baum:
Author
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FRANK BAUM
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