Showing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz / The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum

This collection gathers together the 17 Oz tales by L. (Lyman) Frank Baum in a single, convenient, high quality, and extremely low priced Kindle volume!

1st Book: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
2nd Book: The Marvelous Land of Oz
3rd Book: Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz
4th Book: The Woggle-Bug Book
5th Book: Ozma of Oz
6th Book: Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz
7th Book: The Road to Oz
8th Books: The Emerald City of Oz
9th Book: The Patchwork Girl of Oz
10th Book: Little Wizard Stories of Oz
11th Book: Tik-Tok of Oz
12th Book: The Scarecrow of Oz
13th Book: Rinkitink in Oz
14th Book: The Lost Princess of Oz
15th Book: The Tin Woodman of Oz
16th Book: The Magic of Oz
17th Book: Glinda of Oz

Baum explores the theme of self-contradiction in The Wizard of Oz. The Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion all lack self-confidence. The Scarecrow believes that he has no brains, though he comes up with clever solutions to several problems that they encounter on their journey. The Tin Woodman believes that he lacks a heart, but is moved to tears when misfortune befalls the various creatures they meet. The Cowardly Lion believes that he has no courage even though he is consistently brave through their journey. Carl L. Bankston III of Salem Press noted that "These three characters embody the classical human virtues of intelligence, caring, and courage, but their self-doubts keep them from being reduced to mere symbols of these qualities."

The character of the wizard supports the theme of self-belief and how important it is. Dorothy and her companions believed the wizard to be powerful and even when they found out that he wasn’t, they continued to ask him to grant them their wishes. Baum biographer Rebecca Loncraine points out that the story is a critique of power and shows how “easily people who lack belief in themselves can become willing participants in the deceptions practiced by manipulative figures who rule over them”