Since it was first published in 1900, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has enchanted readers of all ages with its lovable characters,gentle humor and quiet wisdom. This complete and unabridged edition of L. Frank Baum’s beloved classic invites a new generation of readers to travel down that Yellow Brick Road with the delightful little girl from Kansas and her unusual friends.

Dorothy, her little dog Toto, the Tin Woodman, Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion will charm boys and girls of today as much as they delighted children nearly a century ago as they set out on an exciting quest for the elusive Wizard of Oz. Along the way,they’ll encounter the Wicked Witch of the West, the fantastic Winged Monkeys, the Queen of the Field Mice, the kind-hearted Munchkins and other fanciful creatures.

Reset in large, clear type and accompanied by 42 of W. W.Denslow’s original illustrations, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is ready to whisk readers off once more on a marvelous flight of fancy.

FOLK LORE, legends, myths and fairy tales have followed childhood through the ages, for every healthy youngster has a wholesome and instinctive love for stories fantastic,marvelous and manifestly unreal. The winged fairies of Grimm and Andersen have brought more happiness to childish hearts than all other human creations.

Yet the old-time fairy tale, having served for generations,may now be classed as "historical" in the children’s library;for the time has come for a series of newer "wonder tales" in which the stereotyped genie, dwarf and fairy are eliminated,together with all the horrible and bloodcurdling incident devised by their authors to point a fearsome moral to each tale. Modem education includes morality; therefore the modem child seeks only entertainment in its wonder-tales and gladly dispenses with all disagreeable incident.

Having this thought in mind, the story of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" was written solely to pleasure children of today. It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heart-aches and nightmares are left out.

L. FRANK BAUM.

Chicago, April, 1900.

I. The Cyclone

II. The Council with the Munchkins 

III. How Dorothy Saved the Scarecrow 

IV. The Road through the Forest

V. The Rescue of the Tin Woodman 

VI. The Cowardly Lion

VII, The Journey to the Great Oz

VIII. The Deadly Poppy Field

IX. The Queen of the Field-Mice

X. The Guardian of the Gates

XI. The Wonderful Emerald City of Oz 

XII. The Search for the Wicked Witch 

XIII. The Rescue

XIV. The Winged Monkeys

XV. The Discovery of Oz, the Terrible

XVl. The Magic Art of the Great Humbug

XVII. How the Balloon Was Launched 

XVIII. Away to the South

XIX. Attacked by the Fighting Trees

XX. The Dainty China Country

XXI. The Lion Becomes the King of Beasts

XXII. The Country of the Quadlings

XXIII. The Good Witch Grants Dorothy’s Wish

XXIV. Home Again