Dot and Tot of Merryland

Before Oz captured the world's imagination, L. Frank Baum sent two children on an even stranger journey. Dot and Tot, a girl and boy from seemingly ordinary circumstances, discover that the river behind Dot's house flows through a hidden tunnel into Merryland, a fantastical kingdom divided into seven distinct valleys, each more wondrous and perilous than the last. In this early Baum masterpiece (written immediately after The Wonderful Wizard of Oz), the author lets his imagination run completely unchecked. The children encounter talking animals, peculiar societies, treacherous landscapes, and all manner of odd characters who populate these seven mysterious realms. The adventure that unfolds is wild, unexpected, and utterly free from the formulas that would later define the genre. For readers who have exhausted Oz and crave more of Baum's peculiar genius, this book offers something precious: a world built purely from joy and invention, before commercial success demanded he repeat himself.