Product Description

There's trouble once again in the land of Oz!

The mischievous boy Kiki Aru has discovered a magical word--Pyrzqxgl--can transform him and anyone else into whatever Kiki demands. Worse yet, Kiki has been recruited by the villainous Nome King in his latest attempt to get revenge on Princess Ozma and all her friends.

While Ozma's court plans a spectacular celebration for her birthday, Dorothy and the Wizard set out with the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger to find a gift for their beloved princess. But in the Forest of Gugu they become entangled in the wicked plans and magical transformations of Kiki and the Nome King.

Can Dorothy and the Wizard stop the evil-doers before they conquer Oz? Or will Kiki's incredible powers finally give the Nome King the revenge he has craved for so long?

This deluxe reproduction of the rare first edition features all twelve of Oz artist John R. Neill's beautiful color plates, along with his nearly one hundred black-and-white drawings, making this the perfect present for Oz fans old and new.

There's trouble once again in the land of Oz! A mischievous boy named Kiki Aru has discovered a magical word--Pyrxqzgl--that can transform him and anyone else into whatever Kiki demands. Worse yet, he has been recruited by the villainous Nome King in his latest attempt to get revenge on Princess Ozma and all her friends. Can Dorothy and the Wizard stop the evil-doers before they conquer Oz? This deluxe edition features the complete original text, color plates, and black-and-white drawings.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26758 in Books
• Published on: 1999-09-29
• Released on: 1999-09-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 292 pages

From the Publisher
This book is in Electronic Paperback Format. If you view this book on any of the computer systems below, it will look like a book. Simple to run, no program to install. Just put the CD in your CDROM drive and start reading. The simple easy to use interface is child tested at pre-school levels.

Windows 3.11, Windows/95, Windows/98, OS/2 and MacIntosh and Linux with Windows Emulation.

Includes Quiet Vision's Dynamic Index. the abilty to build a index for any set of characters or words.

This Electronic Paperback is illustrated.

This Electronic Paperback is read aloud by an actor.

From the Inside Flap
Book 13 in L. Frank Baum's immortal OZ series, in which the meddling of old Ruggedo -- the ex-Nome King -- and the magic of Kiki Aru, the Munchkin boy, bring mayhem to the Emerald City when its illustrious inhabitants are mysteriously transformed into strange beasts.

About the Author
L[yman] Frank Baum, born in Chittenango, New York, in 1856, tried his hand at numerous professions but didn't discover until the age of forty that his true talent lay in writing of fantastic tales. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the first of the fourteen full-length Oz novels, is his most famous work, but he is also known for his many other fantasies and pseudonymous books.

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Customer Reviews

The penultimate Baum, in the ultimate edition
As the Beatles sang: "It's getting very near the end." This is the second-to-last of Books of Wonder's marvelous reissues of L. Frank Baum's Oz books (yes, folks, there's much *more* to Oz than the movie!) and the book itself is one of the gems of the entire series. One of the darker (yet most delightful) of Baum's original books features Kiki Aru, would-be sorcerer, wreaking havoc throughout the Land of Oz with his powerful word of transformation: "Pyrxqzgl." Like editor Peter Glassgold says in his afterword, I too spent hours as a kid trying to figure out how that should be pronounced! Baum never lived to see this or his final Oz book ("Glinda of Oz") published, but the maturity, mystic adventure and sheer fun of this book makes it one of the best in the series. I wonder what gems he would have given us had he lived longer! All of Baum's Oz books are excellent suggestions for parents searching for Christmas gifts for their kids who have read the three Harry Potter books to shreds. I'm sorry to see this excellent repackaging of the series nearly at an end, but as I discovered as a kid, the books themselves never end--they're there for us to re-read and re-discover for all time.

A MUST-HAVE FOR OZ FANS
A great book, one of the best in the series! This book is now available in a reprint of the original version....it's a beauty. This edition is reccomended.

Unforgettable
I first heard this story 53 years ago in second grade. Our teacher read a portion each day. It was truly a magical time for me. I was transformed and delighted by the glass cat, the idea of miniature monkeys jumping out of Ozma's birthday cake and most of all the amazing flower that bloomed over and over again. Years later I read it again sure that the bloom would have come off the rose (figuratively speaking) and found I was enchanted again. Then I had the chance to read it to second graders of a new generation - one filled with Yu-gi-oh and Sponge Bob and I was pleasantly surprised to find them listening to the old-fashioned story told with antiquated vocabulary with the same enthusiasm I did. Most of my students had never even heard the original Wizard of Oz story or had even seen the movie!! I have since purchased other titles in this series to give to my students so that each will have one as part of their upbringing but this still remains to be my favorite Oz book.