

Both the paperback reprint of Dorothy Must Die and its hardcover sequel The Wicked Will Rise (250,000-copy first printing) were released last month and are already appearing on bestseller lists. However, when Amy arrives she finds that Dorothy is a dictatorial ruler in a dark and ugly Oz, and the teen is quickly recruited by a rebel organization to kill Dorothy and take Scarecrow’s brain, Tin Woodsman’s heart, and Lion’s courage in the process. On April 1, 2014, Dorothy Must Die hit shelves with a first printing of 125,000 copies it introduced teen heroine Amy Gumm, who is transported – via tornado, of course – from her tough home life in Kansas to Oz, a place she never imagined was real. Laying the groundwork for the first print novel, the prequel follows Dorothy on a return trip to Oz from her Kansas home hoping to recapture the adventure and excitement of her first visit.

Paige’s deal for three books and three digital novellas was announced in fall 2013, just prior to the November release that year of the digital novella No Place Like Oz (HarperCollins). “Everyone knows and loves the story of sweet Dorothy Gale and her ragtag group of friends,” she says, “but it’s always exciting to find out that there was more to the story of beloved characters who might just have a bit of wicked in them after all.” And according to Tara Weikum, v-p, editorial director at HarperCollins Children’s Books, and editor for the series, that’s an essential element of the books’ appeal.

But readers won’t see Paige’s characters skipping happily down a yellow brick road they inhabit a much more sinister version of the Emerald City.

Frank Baum in the early 1900s is alive and well in the swift-selling Dorothy Must Die (HarperCollins) series by debut author Danielle Paige. Fascination with the magical land of Oz created by L.
