Little Wizard Stories of Oz facts for kids
First edition
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| Author | L. Frank Baum |
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| Illustrator | John R. Neill |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Publisher | Reilly & Britton |
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Publication date
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1914 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
Little Wizard Stories of Oz is a set of six short stories written for young children by L. Frank Baum, the creator of the Oz books. The six tales were published in separate small booklets, "Oz books in miniature," in 1913, and then in a collected edition in 1914 with illustrations by John R. Neill. Each booklet is 29 pages long, and printed in blue ink rather than black.
Content and publication
The six tales in the Little Wizard Stories are:
- "The Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger"
- "Little Dorothy and Toto"
- "Tiktok and the Nome King"
- "Ozma and the Little Wizard"
- "Jack Pumpkinhead and the Sawhorse"
- "The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman"
The strategy of reaching beginning readers was successful enough for Reilly & Britton to repeat it within a few years. The publisher released selections from L. Frank Baum's Juvenile Speaker (1910) in six smaller books called The Snuggle Tales in 1916–17, and again as the Oz-Man Tales in 1920.
Four of the Little Wizard Stories were re-issued in 1932 in a new form, as The Little Oz Books with Jig Saw Oz Puzzles. A year or two later the four tales were released again, as part of a promotion for a Wizard of Oz radio program (sponsored by Jell-O). Rand McNally published the six stories in three booklets in 1939.
