Friday Reading Comp

L. Frank Baum: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz By Cindy Grigg

¹     One evening in 1899, a father was telling his children and their friends a story. It was about a young girl. Her name was Dorothy. She lived in Kansas. A tornado came and swept up Dorothy's house while she was in it! When the house came down out of the sky, it landed in a magical place. Dorothy met a talking scarecrow there. She met a tin woodsman. She met a not-very-brave lion. She met little people who were called "Munchkins."
 
²     One of the children who was listening asked the name of the magical land. The storyteller couldn't think of a name. There was a filing cabinet in the room. The cabinet had drawers that were labeled. The first drawer was labeled "A-N." The second drawer gave him an idea. It was labeled "O-Z." The storyteller named L. Frank Baum called his magical land "Oz."
 
³     L. Frank Baum was born on May 15, 1856. His full name was Lyman Frank Baum. He didn't like his first name and always went by Frank. He was a frail, sickly child. He had to spend a lot of his childhood in bed. He liked to daydream. He started writing at an early age. He had a knack for storytelling. For a time, he owned a general store. Children would gather there in the afternoons, begging him to tell them a story.
 
⁴     That evening in 1899, Mrs. Baum was sitting nearby, sewing. She listened to and liked the story, too. She told her husband he should write it down. Frank Baum had already published a popular children's book. He had published Father Goose, His Book, a retelling of Mother Goose rhymes. He had worked with an illustrator named William Denslow. Their book became the best-selling children's book of 1899.
 
⁵     Mr. Baum sold the Oz story to a book company. At first, the title was The Emerald City and then From Kansas to Fairyland. Then the title was changed again to The City of the Great Oz. Finally, someone came up with the title The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. That title seemed just right. The book was published in 1900. William Denslow drew the pictures for this book, too. It was very popular.
 
⁶     Readers wanted to know more about the land of Oz. Mr. Baum wrote many more Oz books. None of his books sold as well as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. L. Frank Baum died in 1919. In 1939, the first Oz book was made into a movie. Children have been entranced with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ever since.
 
⁷     Baum believed that imagination was important. He said,

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L. Frank Baum: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

1.   Frank Baum is best-known for ______.   Making the movie of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz   Writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz   Writing Father Goose, His Book   Drawing pictures	2.   According to this article, how did Frank Baum come up with the name "Oz"?   He invented the name.   He saw it on a filing cabinet.   It was the name of his dog.   It was his middle name.
3.   Who told Mr. Baum he should write down his story about Oz?   His children   His book company   His friend William Denslow   His wife	4.   Who drew the pictures for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz?   His children   His wife   L. Frank Baum   William Denslow
5.   Frank Baum believed that using one's imagination was important.   False   True	6.   When was The Wonderful Wizard of Oz published?   1899   1919   1900   1939
7.   Mr. Baum said that he thought daydreams were:   Likely to lead to poor grades in school   Useless   Likely to lead to the betterment of the world   Likely to cause the daydreamer to have an unhappy life	8.   Baum and Denslow only worked together on one book.   False   True