Baum's Marvelous Land of Oz exhibits a diversity of literary techniques. There are strong elements in it of the fairy tale, the quest tale, the fantasy tale, the children's adventure novel, the beast epic, the political allegory, the social satire, the horror story (old Mombi), and the thinking person's joke book (gags, jokes, and wordplay in general abound here—at one point there is even an analysis of the pun and punning). Baum is strong on symbolism, social criticism (the Jackdaws; the girls' Army of Revolt—which seems more like a chiding of flighty young women lacking self-understanding, who overextend themselves, than like an attack on the suffragist movement or on a serious feminist protest), and contemporary happenings (the Wright Brothers' flying machine). In many ways, this particular Oz book is suited to a wide range of readers, in terms of age, taste, and maturity level...