The Master Key

The Master Key (1901) is a children’s novel by L. Frank Baum. Published the year after the first installment of his beloved Wizard of Oz series, The Master Key is one of few works by Baum set outside of the magical Land of Oz. This book is a testament to the heartfelt imagination of one of America’s finest authors in the genres of fantasy and children’s literature. “Here is a fairy tale founded upon the wonders of electricity and written for children of this generation. Yet when my readers shall have become men and women my story may not seem to their children like a fairy tale at all. Perhaps one, perhaps two―perhaps several of the Demon's devices will be, by that time, in popular use. Who knows?” Building on the excitement of an industrializing world, immersed in the wonders of science and magic alike, The Master Key is a story of a boy who dares to dream. Young Rob Joslyn is a skilled engineer whose experiments with electricity delight and astound his father. One day, a spark reveals a figure known as the Daemon of Electricity, who offers the boy three gifts for each of the next three weeks. Unsure of what he wants―Rob is, after all, used to building what his mind desires―the Daemon agrees to choose for him. As each week brings a series of otherworldly inventions, Rob’s life is changed forever. Highly original and eminently human, L. Frank Baum’s The Master Key is a story that continues to astound so long as there are readers who will cherish it. Long overshadowed by The Wizard of Oz, The Master Key is required reading for children and adults who refuse to let life lose its flavor of fantasy. This edition of L. Frank Baum’s The Master Key is a classic work of children’s literature reimagined for modern readers.

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L. Frank Baum (1856-1919) was an American author of children’s literature and pioneer of fantasy fiction. He demonstrated an active imagination and a skill for writing from a young age, encouraged by his father who bought him the printing press with which he began to publish several journals. Although he had a lifelong passion for theater, Baum found success with his novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), a self-described “modernized fairy tale” that led to thirteen sequels, inspired several stage and radio adaptations, and eventually, in 1939, was immortalized in the classic film starring Judy Garland.