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The
Road to Oz
L
Frank Baum
Preface |
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In which is related
how Dorothy Gale of Kansas,
The Shaggy Man, Button Bright, and Polychrome
the Rainbow's Daughter met on an
Enchanted Road and followed
it all the way to the
Marvelous Land
of Oz.
by L. Frank Baum
"Royal Historian of Oz"
To My Readers
Well, my dears,
here is what you have asked for:
another "Oz Book" about
Dorothy's strange adventures. Toto
is in this story, because you wanted
him to be there, and many other
characters which you will recognize
are in the story, too. Indeed,
the wishes of my little correspondents
have been considered as carefully
as possible, and if the story is
not exactly as you would have written
it yourselves, you must remember
that a story has to be a story
before it can be written down,
and the writer cannot change it
much without spoiling it.
In the preface to "Dorothy
and the Wizard of Oz" I said
I would like to write some stories
that were not "Oz" stories, because
I thought I had written about
Oz long enough; but since that
volume was published I have been
fairly deluged with letters from
children imploring me to "write
more about Dorothy," and "more
about Oz," and since I write
only to please the children I
shall try to respect their wishes.
There are some new characters
in this book that ought to win
your live. I'm very fond of the
shaggy man myself, and I think
you will like him, too. As for
Polychrome--the Rainbow's Daughter--and
stupid little Button-Bright,
they seem to have brought a new
element of fun into these Oz
stories, and I am glad I discovered
them. Yet I am anxious to have
you write and tell me how you
like them.
Since this book was written
I have received some very remarkable
News from The Land of Oz, which
has greatly astonished me. I
believe it will astonish you,
too, my dears, when you hear
it. But it is such a long and
exciting story that it must be
saved for another book--and perhaps
that book will be the last story
that will ever be told about
the Land of Oz.
L. FRANK BAUM
Coronado, 1909.
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