Little Wizard Stories of Oz

This quasi-canonical (i.e., not part of the "Famous Forty" but still by one of the official "Royal Historians") Oz book is necessary for completists, but unlikely to be anyone's favorite. Baum provides six short stories, each about a different pair of Oz characters: the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger, Dorothy and Toto, Tik-Tok and the Nome King, Ozma and the Wizard, Jack Pumpkinhead and the Sawhorse, and the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman. Some read like interludes from an Oz novel, the sort of random encounter a character might have on the way from point a to point b that has nothing to do with the overall plot. Some are pretty unimpressive (Ozma seems particularly foolish in her tale, and the Dorothy story has an unconvincing show more moral), but some are good fun. I like the Lion and the Tiger one, as the Tiger tries to go through with his long-held desire to eat a baby but can't manage it, and the interplay between the implacable Tik-Tok and the easily roused Nome King is delightful. (The Nome steward Kaliko once again shows himself to be the only sensible and competent person in the whole Nome Kingdom.)

added March 2022:
I read this aloud to my son as part of our journey through the Oz stories. With six short stories, it reads aloud very quickly, especially when my son insisted on two chapters back-to-back; we got through it in just a couple days. I don't think it will ever be anyone's favorite Oz book. but I particularly enjoyed reading the Lion/Tiger story: the Hungry Tiger decides that he finally will eat a baby, but then ends up helping the baby find its mother. My son didn't like the idea that the Tiger would eat a baby, though. He also didn't like Tik-Tok getting broken, but I do really enjoy my supercilious voice for Kaliko, the Nome King's steward.

There are some good hijinks in the Jack Pumpkinhead one, too, and the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman one as well. I am not sure my son got a ton out of it, though... but then there's not a ton to get! Nice John R. Neill pictures in this one. show less

What a strange one. Short tales of Oz written for younger readers, which would be fine, but these seem to take rather weird turns with events like Jack Pumpkinheads head being smashed and TikTok broken into pieces that I think would not really be suitable for little children. Baum can be an odd one now and then.

Cute collection of short stories. I liked how the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger set out to show how scary they are and end up helping people. The Wizard's lesson teaching in Little Dorothy and Toto annoyed me.

In L. Frank Baum's Little Wizard Stories of Oz, he's collected a series of short stories, each of which focus on a pair of the more popular characters of Oz. There's Jack Pumpkinhead and the Sawhorse, Dorothy and Toto, Ozma and the Wizard, the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger. While the stories are not the most shining examples of literary masterpiece, they will give the avid Ozian one more ride through this magic fantasyland.

Compared to his other writings, especially the Oz stories, I have to say that this one does not hold as much merit. It could be perhaps because Baum was better suited for the longer form, or some other reason in which the end result is that these stories are not very show more remarkable, and as such, are not very remarked upon.

They are a definite must for any true fan of Oz, and a definite maybe for those who need some nice, short stories to read to that kid, or kid-at-heart, in their life. show less

A short but fun collection of Oz stories. Entertaining, but not outstanding.

Cute Little Stories

I had never read this book. The stories are cute and all end happily. I think these would be great for read aloud or bedtime.

It's a shame that this nice collection of Oz short stories somehow gets lost in the roll call of all the novels by Baum (and others after). If you like any of Oz, you should have these.