317 page mass market paperback titled THE EMERALD CITY OF OZ by L. Frank Baum/ Ballantine Del Rey, ISBN #0-345-28228-0, First Ballantine Books Edition, November 1979/ Originally published in 1910, this sixth entry in L. Frank Baum's Oz series alternates between two main storylines. In the first, Dorothy, Aunt Em and Uncle Henry confront hard times at home in Kansas, with poor weather and Uncle Henry's worsening health threatening the family farm, which is shortly to be repossessed by the bank. Dorothy is encouraged by her aunt and uncle to escape to her fairyland (which her elderly relatives only partially believe in), but with Ozma's help she brings them to live with her in Oz, where they all will henceforth make their permanent home. After meeting Oz's girl ruler and seeing the Emerald City, they set out with some companions on a tour of the land, seeing some unique villages and settlements. Meanwhile, in the second story-line, the Nome King, still smarting from his defeat at the hands of Ozma and her friends in Ozma of Oz , decides that the beautiful fairy-land must be conquered and its people enslaved. His new general, Guph, hits upon a cunning scheme: the nomes will dig a tunnel under the terrible desert that protects Oz, and thereby invade the country. Enlisting the help of three terrible bands of evil creatures - the Whimsies, the Growleywogs, and the Phanfasms (a type of Erb) - the Nomes grow ever closer to their goal. Not unexpectedly, these two story-lines eventually converge at the end of the book, as the Ozites confront their invaders in the gardens of Ozma's palace... The book is complete and in FINE condition with some overall light wear. A very small piece of the upper right corner of the front cover is missing.