Profiles the numerous men and women who played the citizens of Munchkinland, offering their perspectives on the creation of "The Wizard of Oz," the film's stars, and their own lives before and after the film.
Tells the story of the midgets who played the Munchkins in the 1939 Hollywood classic The Wizard of Oz, including where they came from, how they fared during filming, what they did off the set, and what became of those among them who stayed in show business.
As one of the last remaining Munchkins, Betty Ann Bruno has had aninside look at the legendary land of Oz, and has traveled her ownYellow Brick Road well beyond that rainbow. At 5, she was directed in a film by John Ford. At 12, she was the fulltime organist in a Catholic church, where she was mentored by a ex-seminarian who tried repeatedly to molest her. As an adult she worked for the CIA.She then became Oakland's first female, Asian-American TV reporter, where she talked a notorious drug dealer into doing an on-camera profile before he later threatened to kill her. She survived the 1991 Oakland Hills Firestorm that burned 3,000 homes (including hers), and described the scene live on national TV after barely escaping with her life. There's a lot more, including her exploration of the spiritual mysteries she calls "life after life." Through it all is her struggle with her ethnicity and her ultimate acceptance of herself by founding Hula Mai, a Hawaiian dance company. It's a wise and honest account of a very eventful journey and a riveting rea
Readers who have graduated from Junie B. Jones and Ivy & Bean will fall head over heels for feisty Julie and her troublesome new dog. Julie has only had her dog for two weeks, but she is already causing all sorts of problems. For starters, she is missing! Julie suspects the school bully Danny must be behind it. But it will take some detective work, the help of Julie’s friends, and maybe even her munchkin twin brothers to bring her new pet home. Wonderfully sassy and endlessly entertaining, the escapades of Julie and her dog are just beginning! Julie’s adventures have sold across the globe and been translated into five languages. Popular filmmaker and children’s author Galia Oz effortlessly captures the love of a girl and her dog. "A funny exploration of schoolyard controversy and resolution.” –Kirkus Reviews "Will resonate with readers and have them waiting for more installments.” –Booklist
From one of the great novelists of our day, a vital, brilliant new book of essays, speeches and articles essential for our times. Step Across This Line showcases the other side of one of fiction’s most astonishing conjurors. On display is Salman Rushdie’s incisive, thoughtful and generous mind, in prose that is as entertaining as it is topical. The world is here, captured in pieces on a dazzling array of subjects: from New York’s Amadou Diallo case to the Wizard of Oz, from U2 to fifty years of Indian writing, from a tribute to Angela Carter to the struggle to film Midnight’s Children. The title essay was originally delivered at Yale as the 2002 Tanner lecture on human values, and examines the changing meaning of frontiers in the modern world -- moral and metaphorical frontiers as well as physical ones. The collection chronicles Rushdie’s intellectual journeys, but it is also an intimate invitation into his life: he explores his relationship to India through a moving diary of his first visit there in over a decade, “A Dream of Glorious Return.” Step Across This Line also includes “Messages From the Plague Years,” a historic set of letters, articles and reflections on life under the fatwa. Gathered together for the first time, this is Rushdie’s humane, intelligent and angry response to a grotesque threat, aimed not just at him but at free expression itself. Step Across This Line, Salman Rushdie’s first collection of non-fiction in a decade, has the same energy, imagination and erudition as his astounding novels -- along with some very strong opinions.
In this heartwarming and funny middle-grade novel by the New York Times bestselling author of Counting by 7s, Julia grows into herself while playing a Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz Julia is very short for her age, but by the end of the summer run of The Wizard of Oz, she’ll realize how big she is inside, where it counts. She hasn’t ever thought of herself as a performer, but when the wonderful director of Oz casts her as a Munchkin, she begins to see herself in a new way. As Julia becomes friendly with the poised and wise Olive—one of the adults with dwarfism who’ve joined the production’s motley crew of Munchkins—and with her deeply artistic neighbor, Mrs. Chang, Julia’s own sense of self as an artist grows. Soon, she doesn’t want to fade into the background—and it’s a good thing, because her director has more big plans for Julia! Bubbling over with humor and tenderness, this is an irresistible story of self-discovery and of the role models who forever change us.
Explore the wonder of Oz in this collection of books seven through nine in L. Frank Baum’s classic American fairy tale series. The seventh, eighth, and ninth titles of the iconic Oz series, now in one collection! In The Patchwork Girl of Oz, the Munchkins Unc Nunkie and Ojo the Unlucky call on the Crooked Magician, who introduces them to his latest creation: a living girl made out of patchwork quilts and cotton stuffing. But when an accident leaves beloved Unc Nunkie a motionless statue, it is up to Ojo to save him. Can the mighty Wizard of Oz help? In Tik-Tok of Oz, Betsy Bobbin and her loyal mule, Hank, wash up on the shores of an unknown fairyland during a storm. There they meet the clockwork man Tik-Tok and find themselves trapped in a battle with the king of the Nomes. In The Scarecrow of Oz, Cap’n Bill and Trot journey to Oz and, with the help of the Scarecrow, overthrow the cruel King Krewl of Jinxland, who has been busy gathering an army for an invasion of Oz. Will they be able to stop the invasion?
When Zozimos is banished by an evil witch (his stepmother!) from the kingdom of Sticatha-the kingdom he was next in line to rule-he trains at battle (if you call chasing after butterflies training), travels across stormy seas (thanks for that, Poseidon), slays golems and monsters (with a lot of help), charms beautiful women (not really), and somehow (despite his own ineptitude) survives quest after quest. By the love of Zeus, though, none of it brings him any closer to home! It does, however, make for one quirky, original, giggle-provoking graphic novel sure to appeal to any kid interested in Greek mythology, or merely looking for an entertaining read.