Audiobook · read by volunteers
Ozma of Oz
L. Frank Baum (1856–1919)
Read by Judy Bieber · 21 chapters · 4 h 06
About the book
Dorothy Gale is sailing to Australia when a storm sweeps her off the deck and leaves her floating on a hen coop. She washes ashore in the fairy country of Ev, next door to Oz, accompanied by a very talkative yellow hen named Billina. There she meets Tik-Tok, a clockwork man who must be wound up to think, speak and act, and Ozma, the young ruler of Oz, who has come with an army to rescue the royal family of Ev from a wicked Nome King. Wheelers with wheels for hands and feet, and a princess with a closet full of heads, wait along the road. Judy Bieber reads all twenty-one chapters of this cheerful and inventive adventure, which will charm children and adults alike. Wit, danger and odd companions fill every chapter, and the pace never slackens.
Introduction
L. Frank Baum, born in New York State in 1856 and died in California in 1919, wrote the Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900 and went on to produce a long series of Oz books. Ozma of Oz, published in 1907, is the third of them. It gives Ozma, the girl ruler of the land, a leading role, and it takes Dorothy away from Kansas for a second time, though she reaches Oz itself only at the end of the story.
The tale brings together several of Baum's best ideas. Tik-Tok, the clockwork man who must be wound up to think, speak and act, is one of Baum's most memorable creations. Billina the hen brings a good-humoured common sense to every difficulty, and the villainous Nome King is a fine blend of menace and bluster. Baum's style is simple and playful, but his invention never falters, and the book is full of small surprises. Many readers think it one of the best of the series.
This LibriVox recording lasts a little over four hours and is divided into 21 chapters, all read by one volunteer, Judy Bieber. It is made for family listening on a long journey or at bedtime, and it is just as pleasant for grown-ups who remember the Oz books from their own childhood.
The book also shows Baum at his most inventive in the creation of odd places and odder inhabitants. Its humour is gentle, its dangers are never too frightening, and its heroine is brave without being solemn, a combination that has kept readers coming back for more than a century.
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