The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Road to Oz, by L. Frank Baum

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Title: The Road to Oz

Author: L. Frank Baum

Illustrator: John R. Neill

Release Date: August 15, 2008 [EBook #26624]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Illustration: BOOK END]

[Illustration: BOOK COVER]

[Illustration: THIS BOOK BELONGS

TO]

[Illustration: THE ROAD TO OZ]

[Illustration: CALLING ON JACK PUMPKINHEAD See Chapter 16]

THE ROAD TO OZ

BY

L. FRANK BAUM

AUTHOR OF THE LAND OF OZ, OZMA OF OZ, DOROTHY
AND THE WIZARD IN OZ, ETC.

[Illustration]

ILLUSTRATED BY

JOHN R. NEILL

CHICAGO

THE REILLY & BRITTON CO.

PUBLISHERS

[Illustration: COPYRIGHT

1909

BY L FRANK BAUM

ALL RIGHTS

RESERVED]

[Illustration: _L'istesso tempo_

TO MY FIRST GRANDSON

Joslyn Stanton Baum]

To my readers: Well, my dears, here is what you have asked for: another
"Oz Book" about Dorothy's strange adventures. Toto is in this story,
because you wanted him to be there, and many other characters which you
will recognize are in the story, too. Indeed, the wishes of my little
correspondents have been considered as carefully as possible, and if the
story is not exactly as you would have written it yourselves, you must
remember that a story has to be a story before it can be written down,
and the writer cannot change it much without spoiling it.

In the preface to "Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz" I said I would like to
write some stories that were not "Oz" stories, because I thought I had
written about Oz long enough; but since that volume was published I have
been fairly deluged with letters from children imploring me to "write
more about Dorothy," and "more about Oz," and since I write only to
please the children I shall try to respect their wishes.

There are some new characters in this book that ought to win your love.
I'm very fond of the shaggy man myself, and I think you will like him,
too. As for Polychrome--the Rainbow's Daughter--and stupid