Looking For A Rainbow
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About the Book
Who doesn´t know Dorothy Gale, that wonderful character from L. Frank Baum´s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz? Most of us know her from the classic MGM movie with Judy Garland. Many of us also know her from the book. But what do we know about Dorothy outside of her fantastic journey to Oz? The movie only gives us a glimpse into her life on her Kansas farm with Uncle Henry and Aunt Em, and in the book, less than eight pages are devoted to Kansas.
Try to imagine a real Dorothy. Who might she have been? How did she come to live on her Kansas farm? Was she really related to Henry and Em? And what of her early years? And then, what happened to her when she returned to Kansas?
Looking for a Rainbow attmepts to answer these fictional questions in a story written for young adults. And while only a work of fiction, the story takes place in real time and is historically accurate.
This book is intended for those who have an imagination and might want to journey with one author as he fills in some of the missing pieces surrounding the story of Dorothy.
A note of thanks
At best, a book description, provides potential readers with the briefest glimpse into the story and content of the book. Even then, such a description is one dimensional, because a books is more than what its about. It is also how it came about. Looking for a Rainbow would never have come about if it hadn´t been for the kindness of a stragner...Lloyd Hedberg, Jr.
Lloyd came to my "literary rescue" when I sent an e-mail note to a few individuals who had Wizard of Oz sites. I asked if anyone out there was interested in reading my manuscript. Two or three people responded in the affirmative, but only one went beyond making some constructive criticism. No, Lloyd said he liked the book well enough to ask if I would resent some recommendations. I said "yes." nd that´s how Lloyd and I started a six-month journey toward publication. And although I thank him in the book, I wanted to thank him here because for many of you this will be your last stop before clicking onward. So, again I want to thank Lloyd R. Hedberg, Jr for his priceless gift of himself.
About the Author
Born in Manhattan, raised in Brooklyn, but reared in Seaford, Long Island, Vincent Begley showed an early interest in writing. As a sixth grader, he wrote and directed a class play on Julius Caesar. In high school he joined the staff of both the school newspaper and the yearbook. With his eye on a possible career in journalism, he started writing for The Circle, the Marist College newspaper. He also began to move out into writing other forms of fiction and drama.
As a college junior, he took advantage of the opportunity to study at Oxford University. While there he wrote a feature column for The Circle and continued to explore other areas of creative writing.
In the years since his graduation from Marist in 1970, Begley has enjoyed a writing career in a variety of endeavors from advertising to public relations. He has contributed articles to a number of newspapers, magazines and journals. His first book length work to be published was Missing Links-The true story of an adoptees search for his birth parents. Following its 1990 publication, Claycomb Press published two of his juvenile works of fiction: The Adventures of Tom Tinker and Freedom´s Light.
An Oz fan since the age of ten, Begley´s relationship with this wonderful classic was further cemented when he appeared as the Tin Man in a Marist College Children´s Theatre production of The Wizard of Oz.
In both his adoption book and as an adoption speaker, Begley compared the adoptee in search to Dorothy and her journey in Oz. Since the Dorothy character was an orphan, Begley wondered who her parents were and how did she end up on a farm in Kansas. Although he took license with the Dorothy character, understanding that she appeared in Baum´s subsequent Oz books, Begley focused on the Dorothy in the first and original story. Looking for a Rainbow, a young adult book, written in the third person, tells of Dorothy´s life up until she leaves the Gale farm. Dorothy - The Other Side of the Rainbow, written in the first person as a memoir, contains Dorothy´s complete life story. It is also available through Xlibris.
"I knew I was taking a risk by giving the Dorothy character a life out of and after Oz, because Oz purist would deny there was any other life for her than the one in the Oz series. Those purists are right. However, I don´t beleive Baum had a series in mind when he set out to tell...and later write the first Oz book. My story follows the logic of what did happen to the Dorothy in and of the first book. I wanted to take a beloved character we all grew up with, and give her further adventures, this time not in Oz, but in the real world."
Begley lives in Chester, New York with Patty, his wife of 27 years. They have four children: Jennifer, Jeremy, Nicholas and Kieran. He works in the Public Information Office at Mount Saint Mary College, Newburgh, NY, and also teaches there, as well as at Marist College.
He is currently at work on a book on eductaion, a compilation of original Christmas stories written over the last 30 years, and a book that would contain "Dorothy" stories.
Begley is indebted to the unselfish assistance of Lloyd Hedberg, Jr., who served as his gurdian angel during the editing process of Looking for a Rainbow