J. L. Bell became an Oz fan after playing a Munchkin and the Flying Monkey Who Grabs Toto in a second-grade play. His mother recalled reading dozens of Oz books as a girl, so they went to the college bookstore and John picked out The Tin Woodman of Oz to read next. It left him very confused. Who was this Ozma? he wondered.
In his quest to answer that question and others, John spent much of his childhood hunting down the rest of the series, aided by a local university and the library where his aunt oversaw the children’s collection. He began to write Oz fiction in elementary school, though it took several more years before he won his first award from the Oz Club.
With his interest in books nurtured by Oz, John went into publishing after college. As a book editor and consultant, he has worked on two New York Times bestsellers and a winner of the National Book Award. He has also been a Regional Advisor for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
Among the articles John has written for The Baum Bugle is the first detailed study of L. Frank Baum’s manuscript for The Magic of Oz. He maintains a daily blog called “Oz and Ends” about fantasy literature for young people and other topics that strike his fancy. He also writes the “Boston 1775” blog on the history of the American Revolution in New England.
