Audiobook · read by volunteers
Wonderful Wizard of Oz
L. Frank Baum (1856–1919)
Read by J. Hall · 25 chapters · 3 h 44
About the book
A girl, a farmhouse and a cyclone: that is all it takes to send Dorothy far from the grey plains of Kansas to a country where nothing behaves the way she expects. Her house lands in the land of the Munchkins, and the only way home seems to lie in the Emerald City, where a great Wizard is said to grant wishes. So she sets off along the yellow brick road. On the way she meets a Scarecrow who longs for brains, and other companions who are just as unusual and just as hopeful. Each of them has something missing, or believes they do, and each helps her face the dangers of the road. This is the story that made Oz a household word, told with simplicity and humour. J. Hall reads the whole thing in about three and three-quarter hours, which makes it ideal for sharing aloud with children or for a nostalgic evening on your own.
Introduction
L. Frank Baum (1856-1919) was an American writer who, after several other ventures, turned to children's books and published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900. It became one of the best-known stories in American literature and the start of a long series. Baum wanted a modern fairy tale, one with wonder and adventure but without the grim moralising of many older nursery stories, and the book's charm has lasted well over a century.
The story has been retold in stage shows, films and countless adaptations, so many listeners know its outline already. Hearing the original is a different experience. The prose is plain and quick, the humour is gentle, and the characters are drawn with a few strokes. Chapter titles such as The Cyclone, The Council with the Munchkins and How Dorothy Saved the Scarecrow give a sense of the leisurely, episodic journey.
This recording has 25 chapters, including an introduction, and lasts about 3.7 hours. It is read by one LibriVox volunteer, J. Hall, whose steady pace suits a book meant to be enjoyed aloud.
Why listen now? Because the book is a model of storytelling for the young: short chapters, vivid places, loyal friends, and a heroine who solves problems by kindness and common sense. It also rewards adults who want to see where a famous tale began. The chapters are brief and end on little hooks, so it is easy to stop and start. Parents often find that the pace and the repeated patterns of the journey suit younger listeners especially well, while adults may enjoy noticing how many images of the film tradition, and how many that are quite different, appear in the book itself.
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