"The Sea Fairies" and "Sky Island," by L. Frank Baum, the author of the famous Oz series ("The Emerald City of Oz," "Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz," etc.), were the beginning of a new series of children's books. * * * * Mayre Griffiths, nicknamed Trot, or sometimes Tiny Trot, is a little girl who lives on the coast of southern California. Her father is the captain of a sailing schooner, and her constant companion is Cap'n Bill Weedles, a retired sailor with a wooden leg. Trot and Cap'n Bill spend many of their days roaming the beaches near home, or rowing and sailing along the coast. * * * * In "The Sea Fairies" Trot wishes that she could see a mermaid; her wish is overheard, and granted the next day. The mermaids explain to Trot, and Cap'n Bill, that they are benevolent fairies; when they offer Trot a chance to pay a visit to their land in mermaid form, Trot is enthusiastic, and Bill is too loyal to let her go off without him. But the evil Magician Zog is after the mermaids, so what happens when he gets Trot and Cap'n Bill, too? * * * * In "Sky Island" Trot meets a strange little boy with a large umbrella. Button -Bright has been using his family's magic umbrella to take journeys from his Philadelphia home, and has gotten as far as California. The two children, joined by Cap'n Bill, decide to take a trip to a nearby island; they call it "Sky Island," because it looks like it's "halfway in the sky" -- but the umbrella takes them to a different place entirely, a literal island in the sky, where they run afoul of the mean Blues, find equal problems with the nicer Pinks, and must fight a war to get back the Magic Umbrella that the Blues took from them so they can return home. * * * * L. Frank Baum thought "Sky Island" would probably be remembered as his best work. * * * * In making this volume, we discovered that the Gutenberg eBooks are missing text, have run-together paragraphs, and the punctuation has been altered. This volume contains the full text of the original books, published in 1920, and 1914, respectively, as well as all 164 John R. Neill illustrations. * * * * Check our other Children's, Juvenile, and Adult books at www.FlyingChipmunkPublishing.com, or Like us on Facebook for our latest releases.