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Michael Patrick Hearn's
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Twenty-seven years ago, in 1973, Michael Hearn's first publication of The Annotated Wizard of Oz was released. This past year was my first experience with Michael Hearn's contribution to L. Frank Baum's Oz in his first volume. I had already read Hearn's The Annotated Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens and found I was very impressed by his work. I completed the 1973 volume about 8 months before the release of the new Centennial Edition. Coming from my Oz film orientation my familiarity with Frank Baum's books was negligible. At one point in private school, as an elementary school student, my teacher who was probably familiar with my Oz film experience gave me the book Wizard of Oz to read. I felt later that she wanted me to know that the MGM film was not the real Wizard of Oz. After reading the book, I was sure that the book must be wrong, as it was not like the film. I, like many other people, believed for years that the film was what made Frank Baum's books quite famous. This point being erroneous is made quite clear by Michael Hearn's commentary on the matter. I have happily given up my allusion for the actual facts of the matter. I could take up the torch and go on and on about the fact that Frank Baum was a genius when it came to the children's books he wrote in his life time. He did take children's literature in a new direction away from a kind of formula writing that for years had dominated children's literature. He also brought about not only entertainment but also a thought provoking kind of fairy tale not inane in its nature. He created a cast of characters with all the qualities we see in ourselves and our friends with the ability to overcome problems and learn that life's entire quest has viable answers if we look for them. It is almost like meeting an alien from a society who has the same characteristics we do and the only basic difference is appearance. For the first time America had it's own writer of children's stories that surpassed anything that had thus far been written for young people. It is very difficult to single out any one part of Michael Patrick Hearn's new book as the crown or epitome of this scholarly work. What I can tell you is that with this newest book, I have found a new appreciation for all concerned. In particular, Mr. Hearn faced no small task to write so extensively about others, the Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum, and even W. W. Denslow, and yet not negate through intrusion into that which he wrote. This book has taken me to another dimension of understanding at a deeper level. What a wonderful feeling it is to be able have another human so understood that they become a part of who you are. That comradeship that exists between good friends for a lifetime of pleasure and depth of understanding is indeed a rare possession.
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