The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Best known as the author of the Wizard of Oz series, Lyman Frank Baum was born on May 15, 1856, in New York. When Baum was a young man, his father, who had made a fortune in oil, gave him several theaters in New York and Pennsylvania to manage. Eventually, Baum had his first taste of success as a writer when he staged The Maid of Arran, a melodrama he had written and scored. Married in 1882 to Maud Gage, whose mother was an influential suffragette, the two had four sons. Baum often entertained his children with nursery rhymes and in 1897 published a compilation titled Mother Goose in Prose, which was illustrated by Maxfield Parrish. The project was followed by three other picture books of rhymes, illustrated by William Wallace Denslow. The success of the nursery rhymes persuaded Baum to craft a novel out of one of the stories, which he titled The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Some critics have suggested that Baum modeled the character of the Wizard on himself. Other books for children followed the original Oz book, and Baum continued to produce the popular Oz books until his death in 1919. The series was so popular that after Baum's death and by special arrangement, Oz books continued to be written for the series by other authors. Glinda of Oz, the last Oz book that Baum wrote, was published in 1920. Michael McCurdy was born in New York City on February 17, 1942. He studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston between 1960 and 1966. He received a B.F.A. in 1964 and a M.F.A. in 1971 from Tufts University. He taught drawing and printmaking at Concord Academy and Wellesley College. He also founded Penmaen Press. His wood engravings and scratchboard drawings have been published in more than 200 books for children and adults. His first illustrated children's book, Please Explain by Isaac Asimov, was published in 1973. His other illustration credits include The Owl-Scatterer by Howard Norman, The Seasons Sewn: A Year in Patchwork by Ann Whitford Paul, An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving by Louisa May Alcott, American Tall Tales by Mary Pope Osborne, and The Sailor's Alphabet. He died on May 28, 2016 at the age of 74.