The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Dorothy is a girl living on a farm in Kansas with her aunt, uncle, and dog Toto. A huge tornado carries her house to a magical place called Oz, where it squashes a bad witch. Dorothy wants to go home and meets a scarecrow without a brain, a tin man without a heart, and a lion who's scared. They walk on a yellow brick road to the Emerald City to ask the Wizard for help. They beat another bad witch, find out they already have brains, hearts, and courage, and Dorothy clicks her silver shoes to go back home, learning there's no place like home!

L. Frank Baum's 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,' published in 1900, follows Dorothy Gale, a young orphan living on a monotonous Kansas prairie farm with her Uncle Henry and Aunt Em. When a powerful cyclone lifts their house into the air, it crashes in the enchanted Land of Oz, accidentally killing the Wicked Witch of the East. Rescued by the benevolent Munchkins, Dorothy acquires the deceased witch's magical Silver Shoes and learns she must travel the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City to petition the great Wizard of Oz for a way home. Along the journey, she befriends the Scarecrow, who seeks a brain; the Tin Woodman, desiring a heart; and the Cowardly Lion, craving courage, forming an unlikely quartet that encounters enchanted forests, deadly poppies, and the vengeful Wicked Witch of the West. In the glittering Emerald City, the Wizard—revealed as a fraudulent showman from Omaha using smoke and mirrors—initially demands the witch's broomstick as proof of their valor. The companions succeed through their innate qualities and Dorothy's accidental defeat of the witch with water, exposing the Wizard's charade. Guided by Glinda the Good Witch of the South, Dorothy discovers the Silver Shoes' power to return her home with three clicks of the heels. Baum's narrative blends whimsy, satire on political populism, and profound lessons on self-empowerment, cementing its status as a cornerstone of American fantasy literature.