How many words are in The Marvelous Land of Oz?

by L. Frank Baum · 1904 · Fantasy

41,878
Word count
2 hr 56 min
Reading time
168
Est. pages
1904
Published

The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum is approximately 41,878 wordslong. At an average reading speed of 238 words per minute, that's about 2 hr 56 min of reading spread across several sittings. First published in 1904, it sits in the Fantasy category.

Typical fantasy novels run 70,000150,000 words, with a sweet spot around 90,000–120,000. At 41,878 words, The Marvelous Land of Oz comes in below the typical range — closer to a novella in length.

Source: Word count computed from the Project Gutenberg plain-text edition (eBook #54, public domain) · referenceVerified 2026-06-21

Fantasy novels of similar length

TitleAuthorWord count
The Wonderful Wizard of OzL. Frank Baum39,649
Peter PanJ.M. Barrie47,268
The Lion, the Witch and the WardrobeC.S. Lewis36,363
The Princess and the GoblinGeorge MacDonald50,960
Through the Looking-GlassLewis Carroll29,752
A Wizard of EarthseaUrsula K. Le Guin56,533