Evening star., 1933-09-24
ANNIVERSARY Of OF
BOOKS CELEBRATED
Young U. S. Woman Carrying
on "Wizard" Series After
Inheriting Job.

BY the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, September 23.-The
Wizard Of or is 40 years old this week,
for which reason he was given birth
day party in New York hotel.
A second reason for the party was
the fact that this psrennially popular
children's fantasy and its successors
have sold more than 100000 copies,
which is said to make it the best
selling American juvenile, and to place
it close to Alice in Wonderland" IN
world popularity.
There have been, all told, q Oz books
20 that an average of 1875, ,l85 copies OF
each have gone into American homes:
and the copies often have been reao
by dozens Of small book worms. The
Wizard, the Tin Woodman, Toto the
DOG, Dorothy from Kansas, and the
Cowardly Lon-all OF them have vast
circle of acquaintances.
Woman Inherits Job.
But perhaps the most curious 1act
about the Kingdom of OF is that the
Office of royal historian" has been IN
herited, and by q young American
woman.
Forty wears ago, Frank Baum, who
was an engineer with penchant 1or re,
failing fairy stories to the neighborhoOo
children, first put the Kingdom OF Oz
on paper. .or
It required seven years, however, 1oi
him to get the material on paper anu
find publisher therefor; he was even
more astonished than the book Woriu
when the book sold by the thousands;
He wrote others, to the number OF II
hafore his death In 1919.
And when he died he left unfinished q
manuscript entitled The Royal BOOK
of o." His publishers felt that some,
how the tradition and the books should
70 on; they decided, upon INQUIRY, tnat
the Juveniles of Ruth Pluly thompson
most nearly approached the Oz traol-
ton in spirit, and asked her to carry
on. She has done 13 books since.
Devoting Life to Or.
II have reconciled myself to devsting
nv life to o. says Miss thompson,
who was 20 when she inherited the
lob. THE story Of OF has become a
part Of me. ,,.
"Just the same, it makes me little
mad when people at least 60 years ola
tell me they've been brought up on my
OF books And have terrible time
placating people who have found slight
discrepancies III t1lc sCoSi oPAy Va ~
sonnel Of or.
Winkie empire in the east OF Oz IN one
book, and in the west in later one.
When I decided to stick to the eastern
location I got thousands OF letters Oh
protest. The children even measure
the animals to make sure that the pro-
portions Of each picture are exactly
what is specified in the text.
Attends Circus Often.
Being an engineer, Mr.. Baum had
established a tradition OF his own. His
books were filled with all sorts of amaz-
ing inventions-some Of which worked,
astonishingly enough. Miss Thomp-
son has continued to provide marvellous
gadgetS for her young readers, many OF
which they themselves have suggested
and many OF which she has thought
up at circuses. She attends every cir
Gus she possibly can, she says.
Her fan mail rivals that OF Holly
wood star IN the old days. Already
she has received more than half mil
hon letters.
Never write down to children" she
says, and always remember they have
a sense of humor, enjoy plays on words
more than adults do and love proper
names that mean things. They like
plausible geography and exact locations
and respond to imaginative appeal. But
especially they appreciate beautiful
words, even when they don't entirely
understand them.