The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a children"s novel written by L. Frank Baum. Originally published on May 17, 1900, it has since been reprinted numerous times, most often under the name The Wizard of Oz. The story chronicles the adventures of a young girl named Dorothy Gale in the Land of Oz, after being swept away from her Kansas farm home in a Tornado. Lyman Frank Baum (May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an American author of children"s books, best known for writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. He wrote thirteen novel sequels, nine other fantasy novels, and a host of other works (55 novels in total, plus four "lost" novels, 83 short stories, over 200 poems, an unknown number of scripts,and many miscellaneous writings), and made numerous attempts to bring his works to the stage and screen.