The Urban Hickster: L. Frank Baum's 14 Oz Books Ranked

The original fourteen Oz books are such a treasure. They are light-hearted and whimsical stories that never take themselves too seriously. They are for the curious, the creative and the young at heart. And as a bonus, these books have such incredible chic original drawings by illustrator John R. Neil.

Shout out to Del Rey publishing, as these mass market 1979 paperbacks, with eye-catching art by Michael Herring are responsible for me taking a chance on the series when I came across them in my local library when I was 10 in early summer of 2000. I like the attempt to market the series for teens and adults, as they are fun reads for children and adults alike, especially with the inclusion of all the fantastic black and white original artwork, not to mention publishing several of the Oz books by Baum's successor Ruth Plumly Thompson. Those books are more for children, and they certainly don't hold a candle to Baum's delightful fairyland.

Here, I rank the 14 original Baum Oz books. They are not particularly serial so you can read them in any order, unless for historical or chronological reasons you prefer to read them in the order they were published.

#14 The Road to Oz (1909)

A solid last is The Road to Oz, notoriouy devoid of plot. Half of it consistents of a travelogue to the Emerald City and the other half centers around a birthday celebration and yet another description of all the characters in and surrounding Oz.

The illustrations are standard but the original edition did not include color plates or color illustrations like the other books.

Below Average

#13 The Scarecrow of Oz (1915)

This book, like many mid-period Oz books, is simply par. It has Cap'n Bill and Trot, characters from Baum's book Sky Island, but honestly I can't remember much else about it.

Average

#12 Tik-Tok of Oz (1914)

Another mid-period Oz book that is just par. The return of the Nome King is great but the story isn't particularly memorable.

Average

#11 Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz (1908)

This is probably the biggest dip in quality after the first three excellent books. The adventures and characters here are exceptional, as the characters wander through unknown fairlylands, and the storyline is fairly dark and twisted. However, a weak plot cannot really save this one.

Excellent illustrations, as usual, from Neill.

Average

#10 The Tin Woodman of Oz (1918)

This is a decent mid-period book, with a decent plot and character development.

#9 The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1913)

Baum's longest Oz book is a joy to read.

#8 Rinkitink in Oz (1916)

This book borrowed an older unpublished manuscript that was revamped to include Oz characters at the end. It's a brilliant story and shimmering fairytale in my opinion. It was nice to have a book that wasn't saturated with the predictable characters and storylines that had begun to saturate mid-era Oz books.

#7 The Emerald City of Oz (1910)

Baum attempted to end the series with this split plot. The return of the Nome King and the invasion of Oz is the highlight, with several curious creatures and communities in Oz as a real treat.