The Lost Princess of ED-ucation

The other day I read Baum's letter "To My Readers" which began The Lost Princess of Oz.  

To My Readers

Some of my youthful readers are developing wonderful imaginations.  This pleases me.  Imagination has brought mankind through the Dark Ages to its present state of civilization.  Imagination led Columbus to discover America.  Imagination led Franklin to discover electricity.  Imagination has given us the steam engine, the telephone, the talking-machine and the automobile, for these things had to be dreamed of before they became realities.  So I believe that dreams--day dreams, you know with your eyes wide open and your brain-machinery whizzing--are likely to lead to the betterment of the world.  The imaginative child will become the imaginative man or woman most apt to create, to invent, and therefore to foster civilization.  A prominent educator tells me that fairy tales are of untold value in developing imagination in the young.  I believe it.

Among the letters I receive from children are many containing suggestions of "what to write about in the next Oz Book."  Some of the ideas advance are mighty interesting, while others are too extravagant to be seriously considered--even in a fairy tale.  Yet I like them all, and I must admit that the main idea in "The Lost Princess of Oz" was suggested to me by a sweet little girl of eleven who called to see me and to talk about the Land of Oz.  Said she:  "I s'pose if Ozma ever got lost, or stolen, ev'rybody in Oz would be dreadful sorry."

That was all, but quite enough foundation to build this present story on.  If you happen to like the story, give credit to my little friend's clever hint.

L. Frank Baum, Royal Historian of Oz

As I was reading it, I felt the cold and cruel fingers of unimaginative reformers winding their way around the throats of children's natural creativity.  Creativity cannot be tested.  So, it must go.  Children must be prepped for tests.  Children must be made to read more manuals and the like and then tested on content.  Creativity cannot be valued since it cannot be measured.

I have been reading the entire Oz series with my family so that my younger 'uns can enjoy it.  They are captivated by the story line of The Lost Princess of Oz.  The book opens with the mysterious disappearance of Ozma and all of the magic tools of Oz.  My oldest ran to get a pen and paper to write down all the clues and compile a list of suspects.  My littlest followed and created her own list--though largely illegible to me.

My oldest commented that some of the clues might turn out to be "red herrings."  I was amazed by her analysis and the mere fact that she was familiar with that unusual expression.

She explained to me her so-called "Thee-OR-ree" about the crime.  I chuckled.  She had picked up the word "theory" through her own reading and naturally mispronounced it.  I asked her about her theory.  She explained to me that she always says "Thee-OR-Ree" and then proceeded to explain her theory to me.

As we read on in the book and met up with the character of the Frogman, she stopped me.  She said, "Mom, I'm going to make a text-to-text connection."  She pointed out that the humbug of a Frogman was very much modeled after Baum's other humbug, the Wizard of Oz.

As I pondered over this newfangled world of hifalutin Common-Core-based verbiage, I concluded that in the old days my third grader might have just blurted out, "Gee, Mom, the Frogman's a bit like the Wizard."  I don't think the Common Core will make my third-grader any smarter, but it has given her a new bag of tricks filled with hyper-inflated vocabulary.  The Wizard would be so proud!

Sometimes, I wonder if the Oz characters were here today what they might say about the Common Core.  It wouldn't be said directly and it'd be more shown than said.  It wouldn't be complimentary at all.  And, as I was thinking these things over, I just then realized that in a thousand ways, Baum has already addressed the likes of the Common Core.  If I only had a brain, I would have told you that long ago!