As kids, we might already hear or read several children’s stories that taught us a moral lesson. These stories come in books with a fancy title and illustration to attract children to read. One of the most popular children’s novels is the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which was published in 1900.
The great novel was a masterpiece of L. Frank Baum, showcasing the story of a young girl trapped in the magical land of Oz. This fantasy novel attracted a lot of children, as well as adults, to read books, which also sparked the interest of the production companies to create films and TV shows adapted from the novel.
Besides having several adaptations of the novel, it is also known to have many interesting facts about its creation. These facts are what make the Wonderful Wizard of Oz an inspiring and fascinating novel that is sure to capture the attention of many people. It is a story considered among the greatest of all time, which continues to be a part of our pop culture today. In this article, we are going to look into the various interesting facts about The Wonderful Wizard of Oz the novel.
Dorothy’s slippers were not ruby-red
One of the most common misconceptions about Dorothy’s character is that she wore ruby-red slippers. This thinking was not entirely true since it is shown in the original novel written by L. Frank Baum that Dorothy’s slippers were silver in color. However, the various adaptations of the story led to different changes in some of the novel’s original concepts, which explains the changed appearance of Dorothy’s slippers. Her ruby-red slippers became iconic in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’s 1939 film adaptation.
Dorothy’s name was based on the name of Baum’s niece
At first, we might come to think that Dorothy’s name was a random name created by L. Frank Baum. Interestingly, the name Dorothy Gale was derived from a niece who died while Baum was writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Baum named the main character Dorothy as a tribute to the death of his wife’s niece.
The name Wizard of Oz was derived from a filing cabinet
The land of Oz sounds like a fancy name, mainly because it is the magical land where Dorothy travels in the story. However, upon knowing its origins, we might come to think that it is not fancy as it seems. Unlike any other names in the novel, Baum thought of the name Oz when he was looking at the filing cabinet in his room while he was thinking of a name for the story’s mainland. As he was thinking of a name, he suddenly saw his three drawers with the labels: A to G, H to N, and O to Z. Upon seeing this, Baum came up with the idea of turning the label O to Z into a name, which perfectly fits the name of the magical land of Oz.
The pencil Baum used to write the novel was framed and hung in his room
As a successful writer, it is no surprise that L. Frank Baum would be proud of his masterpiece. The great author is known to have cherished and valued his works, especially the two children’s novels he wrote. Because of this, Baum immortalized the pencil he used to write the novel; he framed it and hung it on the wall. Baum attached a piece of paper along with the pencil, saying, “With this pencil, I wrote the manuscript of The Emerald City.”
The novel’s production became an instant success
As mentioned earlier, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is considered one of the greatest children’s novels around the globe. It is no doubt that the story got several adaptations in film, theater, and TV shows. Ever since its early publication in 1900, the publishers quickly generated a massive volume of buyers, which sold out the initial 10,000 copies in just two weeks. Months after months, the publishers continued to produce more copies of the novel, which was getting sold out right away after publication. The popularity of the novel skyrocketed for several months and was considered the bestselling book for two consecutive years.