quaint people who inhabit this wonderful fairyland.

It was no easy task to obey this order and land Trot
and Cap'n Bill safely in Oz, as you will discover by
reading this book. Indeed, it required the best efforts
of our dear old friend, the Scarecrow, to save them
from a dreadful fate on the journey; but the story
leaves them happily located in Ozma's splendid palace
and Dorothy has promised me that Button-Bright and the
three girls are sure to encounter, in the near future,
some marvelous adventures in the Land of Oz, which I
hope to be permitted to relate to you in the next Oz
Book.

Meantime, I am deeply grateful to my little readers
for their continued enthusiasm over the Oz stories, as
evinced in the many letters they send me, all of which
are lovingly cherished. It takes more and more Oz Books
every year to satisfy the demands of old and new
readers, and there have been formed many "Oz Reading
Societies," where the Oz Books owned by different
members are read aloud. All this is very gratifying to
me and encourages me to write more stories. When the
children have had enough of them, I hope they will let
me know, and then I'll try to write something
different.

L. Frank Baum
"Royal Historian of Oz."
"OZCOT"