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Wizard of Oz trivia — the storm that started it all

Why does a storm-chaser group carry Dorothy's name? Because the most famous storm in American storytelling picked up a Kansas farm girl and changed her world. Every question below is written in our own words, from the facts of the Oz stories and their history — tap to reveal each answer.

About this trivia

All questions and answers are original writing based on facts — and facts themselves aren't copyrighted. The Oz books by L. Frank Baum were published starting in 1900 and are in the public domain. This page uses no movie images, no artwork, and no quoted lyrics or lines from any film.

Dorothy Alert is a hobby fan community, not affiliated with or endorsed by Warner Bros.

Ten questions over the rainbow of facts

0 of 10 answers revealed — reveal them all, then tell the group how many you already knew.

Question 1 · The storm

In the Oz story, what kind of weather event carries Dorothy's farmhouse away from Kansas?

A cyclone — what we'd call a tornado. The spinning storm lifts the whole house, with Dorothy and her dog inside, and sets it down in Oz. It's the original storm-chaser origin story.

Question 2 · The author

Who wrote the original Oz books, starting with the first one published in 1900?

L. Frank Baum. The first book appeared in 1900 and became so popular that Baum wrote thirteen more Oz novels — and other authors continued the series after him.

Question 3 · The dog

What is the name of Dorothy's small dog, who makes the trip to Oz with her?

Toto. In Baum's books Toto is with Dorothy from the very first chapter — and near the end of the first book, his barking is what accidentally reveals a certain wizard's secret.

Question 4 · The companions

Dorothy travels with three companions. What does each one believe he is missing?

The Scarecrow wants brains, the Tin Woodman wants a heart, and the Cowardly Lion wants courage. The running joke of the journey is that each of them keeps demonstrating the very quality he thinks he lacks.

Question 5 · The shoes — book version

In Baum's original book (not later adaptations), what color are Dorothy's famous magical shoes?

Silver. In the 1900 book the shoes are silver. The color was changed for the famous film version decades later — a favorite trick question, and a good reminder to check which version a “fact” comes from.

Question 6 · The road

What is the road Dorothy is told to follow to reach the Emerald City?

A road paved with yellow brick. In Baum's telling it's an actual road through the countryside of Oz — follow it far enough and you reach the city where the Wizard lives.

Question 7 · The Wizard

The Wizard turns out to be something much less magical than he pretends. What is he, really?

An ordinary man — a showman from Omaha, Nebraska — who reached Oz by balloon and used stage tricks, costumes, and a booming hidden voice to seem powerful. Weather brought him to Oz too: a balloon is just a slower, quieter kind of storm ride.

Question 8 · The family

What are the names of the aunt and uncle Dorothy lives with on the Kansas farm?

Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. Baum describes their farm life as gray and hard — which is exactly why the colorful land of Oz hits Dorothy (and readers) so hard.

Question 9 · The way home

In the first book, how does Dorothy finally get back to Kansas?

With the silver shoes. After learning their power from Glinda, Dorothy uses the shoes' magic to carry herself home — and loses them over the deadly desert on the way, which is why later books need new ways back to Oz.

Question 10 · Weather words

True or false: Baum grew up around real prairie storms, and “cyclone” was the everyday word for a tornado in 1900 America.

True. Baum lived in the Dakota Territory and later Chicago, and in his era “cyclone” was the common newspaper word for a tornado — which is why a weather group spread across the United States, 125 years later, still tips its hat to that Kansas cyclone.

Why Oz belongs on a weather site

The storm is the story's engine

No cyclone, no Oz. The tornado in Baum's story isn't decoration — it's the doorway between an ordinary gray farm and everything extraordinary. Storm watchers understand that feeling: the sky changes, and the day changes with it.

A Kansas nod, from everywhere

DorothyAlert members watch skies from coast to coast — and in a few other countries too — but the name bows to Kansas, tornado country's most famous fictional storm, and a reminder that the Plains, the Southeast, the coasts, and everywhere else are all reading the same sky.

Trivia night lives in the group

New Oz questions — and storm-season trivia of the real kind — get posted in the Facebook group. Bring your best Baum facts.

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