Book 1: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, better known and loved today as simply The Wizard of Oz, is a tale that has been cherished by readers and listeners throughout the years. This timeless story has inspired Broadway shows, cartoon series, and many films over the past few generations. I hope that this book has inspired your sense of creativity and wonder as much as it has mine.

Readers of all ages will welcome the chance to be reunited with Dorothy Gale and such beloved characters as the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion, as well as to meet new favorites such as the Hungry Tiger, whose appetite is never satisfied; Princess Langwidere, who has thirty heads; Billina, a talking chicken, and Tiktok, a mechanical man. Blown overboard while sailing with her uncle, Dorothy finds herself in the fairy realm of Ev. She sets out with her friends to rescue the Queen of Ev and her ten children, who have been imprisoned by the cruel Nome King.

The financial stress of rebuilding their family farm leaves Dorothy Gale's family facing mountains of debt. Upon hearing about her aunt and uncle's situation, Dorothy contacts Princess Ozma and arranges for her and her family to live in Oz, where they can be forever safe and at peace.

Published on June 20, 1916, with full-color and black-and-white illustrations by artist John R. Neill, it is significant that no one from Oz appears in the book until its climax; this is due to Baum's having originally written most of the book as an original fantasy novel over ten years earlier, in 1905. Most of the action takes place on three islands - Pingaree, Regos, and Coregos - and within the Nome King's caverns.

Tik-Tok of Oz is the eighth Oz novel and the first to bring a girl other than Dorothy to Oz. Join Tik-Tok, the Shaggy Man, and a host of other friends - both old and new - on an exciting, imaginative journey through the world of Oz. The fun begins in an isolated corner of Oz, in the small country of Oogaboo. There Queen Ann Soforth musters an unlikely army and sets off to conquer the rest of Oz. Meanwhile, a girl from Oklahoma named Betsy Bobbin and her companion, Hank the mule, are shipwrecked and washed ashore in the Rose Kingdom, a magical land of talking roses.