Audiobook · read by volunteers
Glinda of Oz
L. Frank Baum (1856–1919)
Read by Luke Nelson, Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023), Elli, J. Rebecca Franklin, Lucy Perry, Evelyn Clarke, Linda Lee Paquet, Miriam Esther Goldman (1991-2017), Linda Ferguson, Mark F. Smith · 24 chapters · 4 h 38
About the book
In the last Oz book written by L. Frank Baum himself, Dorothy and Ozma discover that a war is brewing in a distant and unexplored corner of Oz. Two mysterious peoples, the Flatheads and the Skeezers, are on the brink of conflict, and Ozma, the young ruler of Oz, decides to travel there to make peace. She is joined by Dorothy and by Glinda, the Good Sorceress, whose magic and wisdom will be needed. The journey brings them to a lake, an island and a struggle in which cleverness counts for more than weapons. Dorothy, the girl from Kansas who made Oz her home, is as curious as ever, and Ozma rules with gentle firmness. Baum fills the story with inventions and odd magical tricks. A team of LibriVox volunteers shares the reading, and the result is a lively, good-natured adventure for young listeners.
Introduction
L. Frank Baum, who lived from 1856 to 1919, wrote fourteen books about the Land of Oz, and Glinda of Oz is the last of them. It was published in 1920, a year after his death, and the series was afterwards continued by other authors, beginning with Ruth Plumly Thompson. For readers of the series, there is something especially satisfying about the way this final story gathers together figures who have appeared throughout: Dorothy, Ozma and the powerful Glinda, whose palace and book of records often play a part in the plot.
The story is, more than most Oz books, a tale of diplomacy and of a rescue. Ozma has to resolve a quarrel between two peoples who do not know each other, and it is typical of Baum that she tries first to talk rather than to fight. As elsewhere in the series, there is an unusual place to be explored and a clever means of getting out of trouble, along with a gentle humour that makes the danger seem friendly.
The recording follows the book in 24 chapters, from “The Call to Duty” to the end, and lasts about four and a half hours. A team of LibriVox volunteers shares the reading, which lends the cast of characters a pleasing variety. It is an ideal book for children who already know Oz and for adults who remember it fondly, and it is a fitting last visit to the world that Baum created. The tale fits comfortably into an afternoon’s listening, and children will find the changing voices a pleasure to follow.
Public domain
L. Frank Baum died in 1919: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text