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- Herausgeber: Treehouse Books
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023
• More than 35 of our own black and white illustrations
• Unique introduction
Can you imagine a world without toys? or Christmas without Santa Claus?
Read this classic, but less well-known children's story, by L. Frank Baum, who wrote 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,' of the life of Santa Claus, or give it as a charming, special, thoughtful Christmas gift.
Find out how little Claus was found as an abandoned baby and adopted by the immortal beings of an enchanted forest; and how, because of the kindness that was shown to him as a child, he develops a wish and mission to bring happiness to all human children; as well as how he develops his abilities to do so, through the influence of the magical beings, and the children he meets; find out how Claus starts making toys, overcomes fierce enemies, gets people to help him, and ultimately achieves immortality himself.
Makes a lovely, special, Christmassy bedtime story for younger kids, but some old-fashioned words and phrases may need to be explained during the reading.
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The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (Annotated and Illustrated)
By L. Frank Baum With Introduction, Illustrations and Book Cover by Melanie Voland
Copyright © 2023 by Melanie Voland and Treehouse Books
All rights reserved.
No portion of this book may be reproduced or used in any form without full legal permission from the authors.
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Introduction
Lyman Frank Baum (May 15th, 1856 – May 6th, 1919) was an acclaimed american author, known mainly for his children's fantasy novels, and in particular, for his most famous book, 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,' which was only the first of a long series of novels about the fictitious land of Oz.
In total, Baum wrote 14 Oz series books, as well as 41 other novels, 83 short stories, more than 200 poems, and at least 42 theater and film scripts.
Altogether, there were 40 books in the Oz series, as it was continued after Baum's death in his style and on his behalf, by author Ruth Plumly Thompson, who wrote an additional 19 Oz books, and other authors who added a further 7 books.
In addition to the Oz books, L. Frank Baum also wrote other, science fiction and romance books, for children and teenagers, under a variety of pseudonyms, most notably, Edith Van Dyne (for the popular Aunt Jane's Nieces books series), and Laura Bancroft, Floyd Akers, Schuyler Staunton, and Capt. Hugh Fitzgerald.
L. Frank Baum was born on May 15th 1856, to wealthy methodist parents, Cynthia Ann (nee Stanton) and Benjamin Ward Baum, and he grew up, and was mostly homeschooled, in the large, beautiful home they owned, called 'Rose Lawn,' in Mattydale, New York. He was the seventh of nine children, only five of whom survived into adulthood.
Baum was given the first name, 'Lyman,' after his father's brother, but he always disliked it, and preferred to be known all his life, by his middle name, Frank.
He suffered from ill health as a child, most notably, after a time spent at boarding school, when he had to return home after suffering what appears to have been a kind of psychosomatic heart attack, and in response, his father nurtured and provided well for his personal interests and hobbies.
He began as an amateur writer early in life, when his father bought him and his brother a small printing press, and they began to write a journal called, 'The Rose Lawn Home Journal,' which they gave away for free.
By age 17, Baum had taken up stamp collecting as a hobby, and began writing a second amateur journal called, 'The stamp Collector,' and a printed pamphlet called, 'Baum's Complete Stamp Dealers' Directory.'
After that, at age 20, he took up the hobby of breeding fancy poultry, particularly a species called, the 'Hamburg Chicken.' He began writing a journal about this hobby too, and in 1886, when he was 30 years old, he had his very first, non-fiction, book published, called, 'The Book of the Hamburgs: A Brief Treatise upon the Mating, Rearing, and Management of the Different Varieties of Hamburgs.'
L. Frank Baum is known for having had a great many different types of jobs, careers, businesses and interests, which also sometimes ended in financial failure, but throughout his life, he also maintained a strong passion for writing, acting, playwriting, and theater and film in general.
Later in life, Baum owned his own theater, which was also bought for him by his father. And of course, 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,' and some of his other books, have spawned many theater and film versions throughout the years, some of which Baum was responsible for creating himself.
In 1882, L. Frank Baum married Maud Gage, with whom he had four sons. Maud had a strong personality and was strict with their children, but as spouses they were clearly a very happy and romantic couple.
For example, to celebrate their 25th silver jubilee wedding anniversary in 1907, Baum sent out invitations to their family and friends without telling Maud, that included a sweet, and tongue-in-cheek summary of their marriage:
"Quarrels: Just a few.
Wife in tears: Three times (cat died; bonnet spoiled; sore toe).
Husband swore: One thousand one hundred and eighty-seven times; at wife, 0.
Causes of jealousy: 0. (Remarkable in an age of manicured men and beauty doctor women.)
Broke, occasionally; bent, often.
Unhappy: 0."
Maud Gage Baum was the daughter of a famous feminist and suffragist called Matilda Joslyn Gage. ('Suffrage' means the right to vote. However, the 'suffragists' took a less aggressive approach than the 'suffragettes,' focusing more on the circulation of information, and peaceful, rather than direct, aggressive action protests, although Matilda Joslyn Gage was still a very radical suffragist.)
Baum formed a devoted friendship with his mother-in-law, and was very influenced by her, and the philosophies of the suffragist movement, which sought better political and social rights for women, and in particular, their right to vote in government political elections (a right that was eventually won in 1928.)
From then onward, Baum began to support the feminist and suffragist cause too, for the rest of his life, both philosophically and actively.
Baum was the secretary of the South Dakota (where he and his family lived at the time) 'Equal Suffrage Club,' which attempted to convince local people to support the cause of women's rights, and his beliefs influenced and were reflected in his creativity, and the great books that he wrote later.
Both fans and critics can see indications of his views in this regard, in the children's stories that would make him famous, particularly by way of playful humor, and they often had courageous female protagonists, which was not the norm, and which would obviously have more appeal for girls.
Baum was also very influenced by Matilda Joslyn Gage's stance against the persecution of native americans. But around the time of 'The Wounded Knee Massacre,' when nearly three hundred Lakota people were shot and killed by the United States Army, he issued a confusing statement which seemed to call this stance into question, and seemed to indicate extreme racism towards them instead.
Baum appears to have been trying to say, in an impassioned and sarcastic way, that so much damage had already been done to the native americans he was referring to, that the only way to guarrantee the safety of white american settlers in the area, and even to give them back some of their dignity, was to kill the rest of those that were left.
However, critics accused him of not being sarcastic, but of meaning what he said literally.
In any case, in 2006, two of Baum's descendants gave a public apology to the Sioux nation, for any hurt that their ancestor might have caused by what he said.
Despite all his years of writing experience, and the great and prolific fiction author that he was soon to become, it was not until 1897, when Baum was 41 years old, that his first successful children's fiction book, called 'Mother Goose in Prose,' was published. This was a collection of children's stories, illustrated by Maxfield Parrish, that were based on tradittional 'Mother Goose' nursery rhymes.
Next came, 'Father Goose,' which was a collection of nonsense poetry, illustrated by W.W. Denslow. This too, was well received, and even became the best-selling children's book of the year.
After that, he had two children's alphabet books published, and it was at this point, that Baum began to be taken seriously as a writer. His fortunes had forever changed, and he was making enough money from it, that he would never have to work at a normal job that he hated again.
In 1900, Baum published, 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,' with illustrations by William allace Denslow, and it was an instant success, which catapulted him to longstanding worldwide fame and fortune.
'The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus' was first published in 1902, with illustrations by Mary Cowles Clark, then two years later, Baum published a follow-up short story, that was originally published in a women's magazine, which is a continuation of the original novel called, 'A Kidnapped Santa Claus,' in which Santa Claus is captured by fierce 'daemons'.
The short story shares the same fictional world and characters as 'The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus,' and is sometimes presented alongside the original novel, but is said to present 'a less rosy view of the world.'
L. Frank Baum continued writing the Oz novels until the end of his life, and replied to the letters from his fans, calling himself the 'Royal Historian of Oz,' and often taking the children's suggestions as ideas for the next book.
Just like Santa Claus, in 'The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus,' his destiny was to bring happiness to children everywhere, and in completing his mission so well, he too, achieved immortality.
To My Son
Harry Neal Baum
Contents
Burzee
Have you heard of the great Forest of Burzee? Nurse used to sing of it when I was a child. She sang of the big tree-trunks, standing close together, with their roots intertwining below the earth and their branches intertwining above it; of their rough coating of bark and queer, gnarled limbs; of the bushy foliage that roofed the entire forest, save where the sunbeams found a path through which to touch the ground in little spots and to cast weird and curious shadows over the mosses, the lichens and the drifts of dried leaves.
The Forest of Burzee is mighty and grand and awesome to those who steal beneath its shade. Coming from the sunlit meadows into its mazes it seems at first gloomy, then pleasant, and afterward filled with never-ending delights.
For hundreds of years it has flourished in all its magnificence, the silence of its inclosure unbroken save by the chirp of busy chipmunks, the growl of wild beasts and the songs of birds.
Yet Burzee has its inabitants-for all this. Nature peopled it in the beginning with Fairies, Knooks, Ryls and Nymphs. As long as the Forest stands it will be a home, a refuge and a playground to these sweet immortals, who revel undisturbed in its depths.
Civilization has never yet reached Burzee. Will it ever, I wonder?
