Finding Dorothy

At the heart of Finding Dorothy is the importance of storytelling. Not only is the plot focused on the creation of The Wizard of Oz—both the book and the movie—but the core of Frank’s and Maud’s journeys. Elizabeth Letts shows how stories take people away from their ordinary lives to somewhere extraordinary. In the last moments of the book “Maud folded her hands in her lap and sat, utterly still, as the curtains parted, the veil lifting between this world and another” (339). For the Baums, books and the theater were about more than making money or becoming famous. Part of why Maud initially sets out to protect Oz and her husband’s books is that “[to] many people, Oz is a real place […] And not just a real place—a better place. One that is distant from the cares of this world” (13). Where the executive producers are looking to make a hit movie, Maud wants to protect the escapism that storytelling offers.

She learns about the power of storytelling from her husband during their first meeting, when he explains his views of theater and magic—“[isn’t] that what theater is? You conjure up something out of nothing—you build a world from the ground up from nothing but the images that dance around in your mind” (72).