The Boy Fortune Hunters in China

L. Frank Baum

The fourth in a series, The Boy Fortune Hunters in China appeared in 1909, published by Reilly & Britton under Baums pseudonym, Floyd Akers. Unlike most of L. Frank Baums work, the series is told in first person narrative by the protagonist, 16 year-old Sam Steele. Sams father is a sea captain who was reported killed in a shipwreck. After being cheated of his inheritance, he finds his uncle and they set sail in the Pacific. Here, Sam Steele and his two pals, Joe and Archie, have fished a wounded Chinese Prince out of the ocean. Prince Kai Lun Po rewards the boys with detailed directions on how to plunder his family tomb of its treasure and he gives them his blessing to do so. All the boys have to do is get to China, hoodwink the palace staff, and get past Fo-Chu, the Sacred Ape that guards the treasure! Come adventuring with young Sam on one of his most exciting and dangerous adventures in China!

The Boy Fortune Hunters in Egypt

L. Frank Baum

Writing under a pseudonym, the prolific Wizard of Oz author created a series of far-flung adventure tales starring Sam Steele, a resourceful young sailor. In this story of mystery, deceit, and murder, Sam and his companions seek the legendary wealth of Karnak a 2,000-year-old treasure buried in the desert sands. The adventure begins when Sam rescues an escaped cabin boy from a sinking dinghy in Boston Harbor. Runaway Joe Herring, along with pampered aristocrat Archie Ackley, accompany Sam to Alexandria, Egypt. There, the trio learn of the legendary lost riches of Karnak and Luxor a wealth of pearls, gold, precious gems, and historic papyrus rolls, all hidden from invading Persians. Relying upon their pluck, luck, and quick wits, the American boys follow an ancient caravan route to uncover a secret from beyond the grave. Unusually for Baum, the tale of The Boy Fortune Hunters in Egypt is told in the first person, by the title character.

The Boy Fortune Hunters in the South Seas

L. Frank Baum

If you like the books by Iain Lawrence The Wreckers, The Smugglers, and The Buccaneers youll love the adventures of Sam Steele. The Boy Fortune Hunters series began in 1906 with the novel Sam Steeles Adventures on Land and Sea (later re-published as The Boy Fortune Hunters in Alaska). The series lasted six novels, ending in 1911 with the novel The Boy Fortune Hunters in the South Seas. Here, Sam Steele and crew are shipwrecked on a forbidding and mysterious island where the natives worship a powerful Pearl God in a temple overflowing with the most luxurious pearls in the world. Sam is delighted at the prospect of such enormous riches but the boy-king of the island is forced to sentence Sam to a watery grave. Airplane rescues, uncharted islands, revolutionaries, a lost king, and riches beyond imagination await you as you travel with the Boy Fortune Hunters to fabulous adventure in the South Seas!

The Emerald City of Oz

L. Frank Baum

Join Dorothy and the Wonderful Wizard as they take Aunt Em and Uncle Henry on a fabulous tour of Oz. During their journey they encounter such amazing and amusing people as King Kleaver with his Spoon Brigade and Miss Cuttenclip of the land of paper dolls. Aunt Em and Uncle Henry also meet old friends like the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, Jack Pumpkinhead and H. M. Wogglebug T. E. But while Dorothy and her friends play, the wicked Nome King has joined forces with the terrible Whimsies, the fearsome Growleywogs, and the evil Phanfasms in a plot to capture the Emerald City. Will Dorothys friends discover the danger before its too late? Can they rescue the Land of Oz from destruction? L. Frank Baum had intended to cease writing Oz stories with this book, but financial pressures prompted him to write and publish between 1913-1920 The Patchwork Girl of Oz, with seven other Oz books to follow.

The Enchanted Island of Yew

L. Frank Baum

The Island of Yew is set at some undisclosed place in the Earths global ocean in the middle of the sea. A fairy has become bored with her life, and convinces some young girls to transform her into a human boy so she can go on fast and furious adventures. Transformed, he is Prince Marvel, but he keeps his fairy powers, as they might prove handy in a world where you will quite likely encounter giants, dwarves, wizards, rowdy robber gangs, talking dragons, damsels in distress, and overgrown hedges. He takes as a sidekick a dedicated masochist, which is just one of the ways the author keeps things interesting. Full of magic, and fairies and evil hearted villains, this a good read for young adults with a love of gentle adventure stories. The Enchanted Island of Yew is a 1903 childrens book, a fantasy written by L. Frank Baum. It is not an Oz book, though materials in it show a clear relationship and resemblance with Baums most famous fantasy country.

The Fate of a Crown

L. Frank Baum

Need an adventure story with plots and counterplots? Intrigue? A love interest? Politics? Murder? Follow our young American hero, Robert Harcliffe, as he goes on the adventure of his lifetime. A young man just out of college goes to Brazil as secretary of the prime mover in the revolution, and by so doing begins a series of adventures that run from tragic to comic, ending with the success of the conspiracy, a straightening out of many tangles, and the marriage of the hero to one of the most brilliant and beautiful conspirators. Written by the famous Oz author L. Frank Baum under the alias of Schuyler Staunton, The Fate of a Crown is a stirring novel of the events of a South American revolution against the monarchy at the turn of the 20th Century. It was Baums first novel for an adult readership.

The Last Egyptian. A Romance of the Nile

L. Frank Baum

When Gerald Winston, an English Egyptologist travelling on the Nile, meets Kara, who claims to be the last descendant of a royal Egyptian family, the scientists curiosity is sparked by the story Kara tells. Is it true that Karas ancestor Ahtka-Ra, High Priest of Ămen, ruled Rameses II as his puppet? As Winston tries to learn more about the strange Egyptian and his mysterious tale, he is drawn into Karas insidious intrigues. A complex tale of embezzlement, forgery, arranged marriages, bigotry and cheating keep the reader guessing the outcome until the last chapter. The Last Egyptian: A Romance of the Nile was the only adventure novel and the last adult work of fiction of L. Frank Baum, creator of the Wizard of Oz, published eleven years after he wrote Mother Goose in Prose which first introduced a little girl by the name of Dorothy. Enjoy this masterpiece.

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus

L. Frank Baum

Every child knows about Santa Claus, the jolly man who brings gifts to all on Christmas. There are many stories that tell of his life, but the delightful version relayed in The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus is by far the most charming and original of all. Orphaned at an infant Claus is found and raised in the magical Forest of Burzee by a wood-nymph Necile, who convinces the great Ak to allow her to raise Claus for her own. As he grows older he meets his fellow humans, and sees the neglect of children. This sets him on the path to making toys and becoming the beloved Saint Nicholas we are familiar with today. Along the way we learn the origins of the Christmas tree and Christmas stockings and discover the stories behind many Christmas secrets, like why Santa slides down chimneys, how he picks his reindeer, and how he delivers all his toys in one night. Only L. Frank Baum, the man who created the wonderful land of Oz, could have told Santas tale in such rich and imaginative detail!