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The '''Oz''' series is popular children's book series which has attracted a significant fan base.  It began with L. Frank Baum's [[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]], with illustrations by W.W. Denslow, published in 1900.  Baum did not intend to start a series; however, readers enjoyed it so much that they called for a sequel, and he needed the money after moving to Hollywood.  While Baum tried to end the series at least twice, he ended up writing fourteen books.  After his death, other authors continued the series up to 1963.

The '''Oz''' series is popular children's book series which has attracted a significant fan base.  It began with L. Frank Baum's [[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]], with illustrations by W.W. Denslow, published in 1900.  Baum did not intend to start a series; however, readers enjoyed it so much that they called for a sequel, and he needed the money after moving to Hollywood.  While Baum tried to end the series at least twice, he ended up writing fourteen books.  After his death, other authors continued the series up to 1963.

While Baum himself stated that he wrote ''Wizard of Oz'' "solely to please children of today", the Oz books have addressed or left significantly unaddressed several philosophical questions.  The political themes arguably present in the original ''[[The Wizard of Oz]]'' in 1900 and the Broadway play based on it were not continued in the rest of the series.  The famous 1939 movie version is based on the 1900 original.

While Baum himself stated that he wrote ''Wizard of Oz'' "solely to please children of today", the Oz books have addressed or left significantly unaddressed several philosophical questions.  The political themes arguably present in the original ''[[The Wizard of Oz]]'' in 1900 and the Broadway play based on it were not continued in the rest of the series.  The famous 1939 movie version is based on the 1900 original.[[File:OZ-TITLE.JPG|Thumb|250px|Original 1900 book]]

==Impact on readers==

==Impact on readers==

The 40 Oz books had a significant impact on their young middle class readers who read them in English, Spanish, Russian, French, German, Romanian, Latin, Hebrew, or Arabic editions. Novelist Gore Vidal (born 1925) recalls:

The 40 Oz books had a significant impact on their young middle class readers who read them in English, Spanish, Russian, French, German, Romanian, Latin, Hebrew, or Arabic editions. Novelist Gore Vidal (born 1925) recalls: