The Lizard of
Oz
humorous fantasy for
children (fourth grade and
up) and up and for adults who share stories with them
(2756 words)
This
is a revised and expanded version of the underground classic,
first published, to
great reviews. in 1974.
An elementary school class sets out on a field
trip to bring
back enchantment to the world. They learn that you have to go
under the world
to stand under it and understand it. And there are many levels of
understanding. They meet such characters as Mr. Shermin (who used
to be a
teacher until he decided to be a fish, and then he knew how to
turn himself
into a fish, which not many people, even teachers, know how to
do), Humpty
Dumpty (who fell for a little blue wallflower he fell for, Prince
Frog (who
would rather be a frog than a prince, because it's much less
trouble), Sir Real
(who has cereal instead of brains). Lewis Carroll, the Knights of
the
Merry-Go-Round Table, the Mothers of Fact (Miss Hap, Miss Take,
and Miss
Fortune), Mr. Plato, Daniel
Boone, and Joan
of Noah's Ark.
Imagine The Phantom
Tollbooth crossing
paths with a fifth grade class in The Magic School Bus.
The
Lizard has captured the imaginations of a small but very
enthusiastic cadre of
fans. I would love bring it to a much wider audience. And it
would be
particularly good for it to appear in Australia, which is often
informally referred
to as "Oz".
Reviewers said of the
first edition:
Library
Journal -- "An intriguing and very entertaining little novel"
Booklist
-- "a snappy hip fable"
Aspect
-- "Carroll and Tolkien have a new companion"
Lancaster
(PA) Independent Press -- "a work so saturated that the mind is
both
stoned with pleasure and alive with wonder"
Philadelphia
Bulletin -- "A commentary on our times done delightfully"
Valley
Advocate -- "a gallery of figments of contemporary culture that
could take
its place on the library shelf of memory along with the classic
figures of
children's fiction"
If you are interested, I also have illustrations by
Christin Couture
from the original edition. Those illustrations are
her property, but she
would be delighted to see this book reissued in print.
(FYI -- you can
see other work of hers at her web site
http://redtidebluefire.com and you can
reach her at redtidebluefire@gmail.com 212-533-2115).
I
also have a children's play and a radio script based on this
book, as well as
an appendix (Food for Thought), which parents enjoy, indicating
literary and
mythical sources of characters and themes.
My published works include:
·
The
Name of Hero (historical novel, published by
Tarcher/Houghton Mifflin)
·
Ethiopia
Through Russian Eyes (translation from the Russian, published by
Red Sea
Press)
·
Saint
Smith and Other Stories (novellas and stories)
·
Echoes
from the Attic (contemporary novel, co-authored with Ethel
Kaiden)
·
Now
and Then and Other Tales from Ome" (children's stories),
plus four books about Internet business,
published by
Osborne/McGraw-Hill, Macmillan, Wiley, and Mighty Words.
Now a publisher of electronic books, I worked for
Digital/Compaq
for 19 years, most recently as "Internet Evangelist." I
graduated
from Yale, with a major in English, and earned an MA from the U.
of Mass. at
Amherst in Comparative Literature (French, Russian, and German).
At Yale, I had
creative writing courses with Robert Penn Warren and Joseph
Heller.