The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a 1900 children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum. It is the first novel in the Oz series of books. A Kansas farm girl named Dorothy ends up in the magical Land of Oz after she and her pet dog Toto are swept away from their home by a cyclone. Upon her arrival in the magical world of Oz, she learns she cannot return home until she has destroyed the Wicked Witch of the West. A modern fairy tale with a distinctly American setting delightfully level headed and assertive heroine, and engaging fantasy characters, the story was enormously popular and became a classic of children literature. The book was first published in the United States in May
1900 by the George M. Hill Company. In January 1901, the publishing company
completed printing the first edition, a total of 10,000 copies, which quickly
sold out. It had sold three million copies by the time it entered the public
domain in 1956. It was often reprinted under the title The Wizard of Oz, which
is the title of the successful 1902 Broadway musical adaptation as well as the
1939 live-action film.