Why I was chosen by Princess Ozma

The other day, I noticed that Spring was fast approaching and decided to invert our birdbath so it would retain rainwater for the birds and their Spring bath.
This morning, after a gentle night rain, the birdbath was full and robins were singing at its edge as they bathed. I'm sure they probably needed it after a rough Winter.
I went out to inspect it and found myself gazing deeply into the waters. Suddenly, the angelic face of Princess Ozma appeared and bid me a good morning. I was somewhat startled and I'm sure she was quite amused at my surprised reation. I'm used to her appearing in mirrors when she wants to contact me and I wasn't expecting her to show up in the avian tub.
After a brief conversation in which she inquired about my progress in fulfilling her Royal Command, she asked me a question which I had not expected.
"Why have YOU chosen to honor my command and write about my new Royal Magician?"
Afterall, I was not bound to her command since I was not officially a subject of her kingdom, merely a visitor.
I tried to explain to her that when a one hundred plus year old Princess who looks like a twelve year old girl commands one to do her bidding, it's kinda hard to say no, especially when that girl is the Ruler of OZ.
This did get me to thinking however why I had chosen to write about her kingdom and her Royal Magician.
To this end, I'll take a few minutes here to explain my reasons for the journey I have undertaken in fulfilling the Royal Command of Princess Ozma, Ruler of OZ.

I was born on May 5, 1960 on the 41st anniversary of the passing of Lyman Frank Baum, the kind gentleman who wrote of the Land of Oz over a hundred years ago.
I grew up in a loving household where my parents read to me on a daily basis and taught me the joy of reading. Many a night I recall sitting in our front room as my mother would read from the many books of Oz and my father would act out some of the odd scenes pictured within.
It, of course, never occurred to me that I would someday find myself sitting in the Grand Courtyard of the Red Brick Palace of Glinda the Good listening to those same stories from the very people who lived them.
As I grew up, my love for reading never diminished and my parents support for my love of reading never waivered. In addition, I was fortunate enough to encounter a number of mentors who would shape my view of the world and how I would find my way in it.
In particular was Captain Kangaroo, otherwise known as Bob Keeshan. His unique program was instumental in shaping my mind towards the joy of learning. Another was Clyde Crashcup, an odd cartoon character who inspired me to become a scientist and educator. Despite what many pyschologists would have you believe, television did not rot my brain. In fact, my fondest memories of childhood were of Saturday mornings in front of the TV machine watching the Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour and eating Captain Crunch with Crunchberries cereal.
I find today's cartoons somewhat vulgar and not promoting the values I grew up with, but I'm getting off-track here.
Another mentor was a NASA scientist; Gene Shoemaker, who, by correspondence inspired me to be an astronomer. This was during the late 60's and early 70's when NASA was king of the hill, so to speak.
The most important mentor was my father, who inspired me to try everything and learn from those experiences. He got me involved in Toastmasters International and the International Brotherhood of Magicians. Those two organizations were directly responsible for much of my success as a public speaker and educator.
Fast forward to the mid-80's and my love of reading is now manifested in the lives of my 5 children as I read countless books to them, including the 14 books of Oz written by L. Frank Baum.
During this time, I am also completing my college education in Physics and running a public observatory teaching children about the night sky. This time is where the seeds of working for children's issues began for me. Following my tenure at Indiana State University, I took a position as Planetarium Educator for The Children's Museum of Indianapolis.
By the way, if I haven't mentioned it before, The Children's Museum of Indianapolis is the finest children's museum anywhere in the world. If you've visited there, you'll certainly agree. If you haven't, please make the time to do so. You'll not be disappointed. Be sure to visit SpaceQuest Planetarium at the museum.
Anyway, during my time there, I made it a point to be a mentor to youth volunteers and thus found my calling. To impact the lives of children in a positive manner is one of the greatest accomplishments of my life.
It was during this period that I became involved with junior high school children in the inner city region of Indianapolis. One day, while engaged in testing some educational software about Geography for 6th graders, I encountered quite a number of children who could not read, literally. It's one thing to suggest that there are kids in America who cannot read. It's quite another to come face-to-face with them.
I found myself at the end of the day sitting in my car in the parking lot shaking with remorse and resolving to do something about what I had just witnessed.
I then spent the next year in various teachers lounges having lunch with teachers and trying to understand how they could allow a child to go through school without mastering the art of reading.
Although some teachers cared deeply about their students, many cared only for their paycheck and thought little of the impact their negligence and disregard for the future of the next generation caused. This was reinforced by a school administration hamstrung by budget concerns and state-mandated test scores.
As a result, today's child has lost the art of reading. No longer do children sit down to read a book, to linger within the world of fiction and fantasy. Nowadays, kids are glued to the computer screen and read in snippets. In fact, with the advent of text messages, most kids now understand a truncated language that would have Daniel Webster spinning in his grave.
Only in the last few years has the Harry Potter effect taken hold and inspired kids to pick up the traditional book and immersed themselves in another world.
Despite this momentary reawakening, most kids still reach for the cel phone and communicate with their thumbs. Most kids would have trouble taking the time to sit down with a good book and giving themselves over to the realm of fantasy. They prefer the instant gratification that comes with a world overflowing with technology.
The book has become a lost art and with that thought in mind, I chose to honor the command of Fairy Princess and Ruler of OZ, Ozma.
In writing about young Jamie Diggs, the great grandson on O.Z. Diggs, the original Wizard of Oz, my most sincere desire is that children will pick up my book and rediscover the joy of reading.
If only a single child comes to understand and appreciate the joy of reading, then I have fulfilled Ozma's command.
When Princess Ozma asks me why I have chosen to write about OZ, I say this.
If, by writing about this wonderful land and all of its unique characters, I can inspire children and introduce them to the joy of reading, even if it be only a single child, I will have made an impact that reaches far beyond my own lifetime.
To this end, I have committed all my efforts towards creating an environment where kids will want to pick up that book and put aside that cel phone for a few moments. If I can serve as a mentor promoting Literacy to our youth, then I will have fulfilled Princess Ozma's Royal Command.

Par Ardua Ad Alta
Long Live OZ!!!

James C. Wallace II
Royal Liaison to Princess Ozma

Spring is Approaching...

Soon, the Vernal Equinox will be upon us and before you know it, Morel Mushrooms will be popping up everywhere.



Like young Jamie Diggs, the great grandson of O.Z. Diggs, the original Wizard of Oz, we all look forward to gathering those wonderful fungi.

Fortunately for us, we don't have to deal with the Leader of the Sycamores, who liberates the Morel or the Gnarled Scrub Oak, who casts a mean spell on the Morel Army.

MAGICIAN OF OZ tells the classic tale of good Versus Evil in a land we all know from our childhood. Lucky for the young magician that he has Dorothy Gale of Kansas on his side and she too casts a mean Spell of the Morels. Oddly enough though, it is the fist time she had ever cast a spell.

Once you've finished reading MAGICIAN OF OZ, I think you'll agree that she did a pretty good job of it.

Of course, there's the Great Mushroom Hunt, which yields the Diggs family so many Morels that some must go to auction, where they fetch a mighty fine price.
And what of those Morels they kept for themselves? Well, Amanda Diggs, who makes a mighty fine Potato Soup tries some in her recipe with amazing results. She calls it Hoosier-style Potato Soup.

Hmmm...

Long live OZ!!!


James C. Wallace II
Royal Liaison to Princess Ozma

The Old Corvair

In today's society, we take for granted the technology that surrounds us. From computers to automobiles, the Internet to telephones. All around, the world is a complex and complicated place to live.

In the Land of OZ, the world L. Frank Baum described in such vivid detail is lacking in the technology we couldn't live without. Water comes from a well and pumped by hand. There are no weapons and no need for any. The hand-written letter is still alive and quite an art form. All cooking is done by wood-fired stoves and milk is gathered fresh every day by hand, so to speak.

The Diggs family, now living in the Land of the Hoosiers, find themselves living a somewhat tech-free life as well. They do not own a television and Jamie Diggs is no worse off for it. He finds his simple pleasures in the daily life of an Indiana farmhouse. His mother, Amanda Diggs grinds her own meat to make meatloaf and prepares her own Potato Soup from scratch.

Their only contact with technology at home is the old Corvair, a lovely small automobile that serves the Diggs family admirably.



James Diggs loves his old Corvair and keeps it running as best he can, preferring it over newer, more expensive vehicles. Of course, he does make a living building Hovercraft in the Big City nearby. However, he does not own one, though he takes great pride in his work building something that can actually save lives.

Overall, the Diggs family lives a simple, pleasurable life with few concerns and many joys.

We should be as lucky.

Long live OZ!!!!

James C. Wallace II
Royal Liaison to Princess Ozma

A Sign from Princess Ozma...

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! No!!!

It's Comet Lulin!



Sent as a a message from Princess Ozma and the Land of OZ to all who look up, it proclaims her faith in the children of the world. It also proclaims her strong desire that the children of the world seek out MAGICIAN OF OZ and read the story of her new Royal Magician and his struggles against an old foe of the Tinman, Nick Chopper.

How do we know it was sent by Ozma? Who else would send a green comet from the Emerald City to grace our wonderful skies?

Princess Ozma has found her newest magician, Jamie Diggs, the great grandson of O.Z. Diggs, the original Wizard of Oz.

In MAGICIAN OF OZ, the young magician discovers his magical heritage in an old humpback trunk from his parents basement. He soon finds himself learning the ways of magic from The Duke and Albert at the local magic club, which just happens to be part of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.

Before long, young Jamie Diggs meets Tree-In-The-Road, goes on a great hunt for Morel Mushrooms and soon finds himself face-to-face with the Council of Trees at the entrance to OZ.

Soon, MAGICIAN OF OZ will be available for kids everywhere, and even some adults who love OZ as much as those who live there.

Look for it this Spring at bookstores and online everywhere.

Long live OZ!!!

James C. Wallace II
Royal Liaison to Princess Ozma

The BBC missed one...

I read today where the BBC listed the top 100 books (in their opinion) and I was pleasantly surprised to see a great many book listed which I have read. Out of the 100, I've read 62 of them over the years. I own 32 of them in my own personal library. Many were childrens' books, including Alice in Wonderland, Charlotte's Web and Winnie the Pooh.

Others which apply to an older youth audience were The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Dune, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and of course, Harry Potter.

Below is the listing as it appeared on the BBC website.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini -
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno - Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Notice what's missing?

Yep, that's right. The Wizard of Oz.

I couldn't help but notice the preponderance of British authors (things that make you go hmmm...).
I believe this to be an error in judgment on the part of the BBC in their selection process. Perhaps it is a bias towards L. Frank Baum and his overall work? Perhaps the British just don't get him? Perhaps no one at the BBC has ever been to Oz?

I would suggest that if you read this, complain to the BBC about their selections. Or better yet, go out and read a book not on the list.

Hmmm... Perhaps an Oz book?

James C. Wallace II
Royal Liaison to Princess Ozma