L. Frank Baum

L. Frank Baum (1856-1919) published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900, intending an American fairy tale without the moralising he disliked in European ones. The book differs from the 1939 film in ways that matter to anyone quoting it: the slippers are silver, the Wizard is exposed as an ordinary man from Omaha, and Dorothy’s case for going home is an argument she has to win rather than a wish. Baum wrote thirteen further Oz books. Quotes here are cited by chapter and taken from the original text, not the screenplay.