The Unknown Witches of Oz The Unknown Witches of Oz The Unknown Witches of Oz: Locasta and the Three Adepts is a 2000 novel written by Dave Hardenbrook, with illustrations by Kerry Rouleau. As its title indicates, the book is an entry in the long-running series of books about the Land of Oz, written by L. Frank Baum and his successors. The publication of "The Unknown Witches of Oz" was timed to coincide with the centennial of the original Oz book, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" (as was also true of Gina Wickwar's "The Hidden Prince of Oz" and Edward Einhorns's "Paradox in Oz"). Hardenbrook's
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz be Australia, or perhaps a magical land in the center of the great Australian desert. Another influence lay in Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". A September 1900 review in the "Grand Rapids Herald" called "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" a "veritable "Alice in Wonderland" brought up to the present day standard of juvenile literature". Baum found Carroll's plots incoherent, but he identified the books' source of popularity as Alice herself, a child with whom the child readers could identify; this influenced his choice of a protagonist. Baum was also influenced by Carroll's belief that children's books should have many