Book Description
*This Book is annotated (it contains a detailed biography of the author). *This book has been checked and corrected for spelling errors. The Surprising Adventures of the Magical Monarch of Mo and His People is the first full-length children's fantasy book by L. Frank Baum. Originally published in 1899 as A New Wonderland, Being the First Account Ever Printed of the Beautiful Valley, and the Wonderful Adventures of Its Inhabitants, the book was reissued in 1903 with a new title in order to capitalize upon the alliterative title of Baum's successful The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The book is only slightly altered-Mo is called Phunniland or Phunnyland, but aside from the last paragraph of the first chapter, they are essentially the same book. Mo is much more of a nonsense book than Oz, bringing to mind Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which is probably what the original title referred to. Each chapter is a different story, unlike Baum's other books, which are full length stories. They do, however have a general throughline, and can be seen as an episodic novel.