Lyman Frank Baum (1856-1919) was an American writer of children's books, best known for creating the marvelous Land of Oz in «The Wonderful Wizard of Oz». This fanciful kingdom was catalogued in a series of children's books beginning with the publication of «The Wonderful Wizard of Oz». Baum's Oz series compasses the first fully developed fantasy world created by an American author. In 1900, Baum and Denslow, famous illustrator with whom he shared the copyright, published «The Wonderful Wizard of Oz», making it one of the first commercially successful uses of color illustrations in American publishing. Dorothy and her friends soon began their journey toward becoming an integral part of the American consciousness. «The Patchwork Girl of Oz» is Baum's seventh contribution to the set of Oz stories. This tale is the first since the original «The Wonderful Wizard of Oz» to send its hero on a quest through Oz. Ojo, a Munchkin boy, along with the Patchwork Girl and others set out to remedy his uncle after he is turned into a marble statue.
