The 1939 film ends where book one ends, so most families never learn the map keeps going: thirteen more books, with sea fairies, clockwork men, a patchwork girl, and a Nome King who holds a grudge across half the series. Baum wrote one nearly every year until his death, and children of that era waited for the next Oz book the way kids now wait for a sequel film.
Two things we’d tell a parent up front. First, book 2 has no Dorothy — say so before your kid starts it, and the book is free to be what it is (it’s a good one, with a famous twist). Second, the books after number 6 introduce new lead characters. Some kids find their favorite Oz book there; others are happiest re-reading the Dorothy ones. Both are fine ways to live in Oz.
Every one of the fourteen was published before 1929, which means every one is in the public domain. We host the first book now, built from the original edition with all of W. W. Denslow’s illustrations, and more of the series is on our production list.
