Michael Patrick Hearn is an American literary scholar and one of America's leading men of letters specializing in children's literature and its illustration. His works include The Annotated Wizard of Oz (1971/2000), The Annotated Christmas Carol (1977/2003), and The Annotated Huckleberry Finn (2001). He considers the three most quintessential American novels to be Moby-Dick

Moby-Dick

Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, was written by American author Herman Melville and first published in 1851. It is considered by some to be a Great American Novel and a treasure of world literature. The story tells the adventures of wandering sailor Ishmael, and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod,...

by Herman Melville

Herman Melville

Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....

, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a children's novel written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. Originally published by the George M. Hill Company in Chicago on May 17, 1900, it has since been reprinted numerous times, most often under the name The Wizard of Oz, which is the name of...

by L. Frank Baum

L. Frank Baum

Lyman Frank Baum was an American author of children's books, best known for writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...

, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...

.

He is an expert on L. Frank Baum and is currently writing a biography about him, which sets forth to correct the numerous errors in previous biographies, many based on Frank Joslyn Baum

Frank Joslyn Baum

Frank Joslyn Baum was a lawyer, soldier, writer, and film producer, though his attempts to continue the legacy of his father brought him lawsuit and estrangement from his family. Nonetheless, he became the first president of The International Wizard of Oz Club.He is best known as the author of To...

's out of print and largely mythological To Please a Child.

As an Oz and L. Frank Baum scholar, he also edited The Critical Heritage Edition of the Wizard of Oz for Schocken Books

Schocken Books

Schocken Books is a publishing company that was established in Berlin with a publishing office in Prague in 1931 by the Schocken Department Store owner Salman Schocken. It published the writings of Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, Franz Kafka and S. Y...

 (1986), wrote the introduction to the first published version of the screenplay of The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)

The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)

The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...

. He appears in the documentaries Oz: the American Fairyland and Matilda Joslyn Gage

Matilda Joslyn Gage

Matilda Electa Joslyn Gage was a suffragist, a Native American activist, an abolitionist, a freethinker, and a prolific author, who was "born with a hatred of oppression".-Early activities:...

(1983), credited as an "Authority on L. Frank Baum". He gave the keynote address at the Centennial convention

Convention (meeting)

A convention, in the sense of a meeting, is a gathering of individuals who meet at an arranged place and time in order to discuss or engage in some common interest. The most common conventions are based upon industry, profession, and fandom...

 of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a children's novel written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. Originally published by the George M. Hill Company in Chicago on May 17, 1900, it has since been reprinted numerous times, most often under the name The Wizard of Oz, which is the name of...

mounted by The International Wizard of Oz Club

The International Wizard of Oz Club

The International Wizard of Oz Club, Inc., was founded during 1957 by Justin G. Schiller, a then thirteen-year-old boy.The sixteen charter members, some of whom continue to make valuable contributions to the club, were garnered from the mailing list found among the papers of the recently deceased...

, and often makes public appearances in which he lectures on Baum.

Other books as author or editor include:

• 50 years of Wanda Gág's Millions of Cats: 1928-1978 (1978)
• McLoughlin Brothers, publishers, 1828-1978 (1980)
• Victorian Fairy Tales (1980)
• Peter Newell, American Comic Illustrator (1983)
• The Chocolate Book: A Sampler for Boys and Girls (1983)
• The Best of the Andrew Lang Fairy Tale Book (1986)
• The Porcelain Cat (children's picture book, 1987)
• The Wizard of Oz
  The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
  The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
  
  : The Screenplay, (1989)
• W.W. Denslow: The Other Wizard of Oz, (1996)
• The Victorian Fairy Tale Book (1990)
• 65 years of Wanda Gág's Millions of Cats: 1928-1993 (1992)
• Native American Legends : Lakota (1995)
• Myth, Magic, and Mystery: One Hundred Years of American Children's Book Illustration (1996)
• From the Silver Age to Stalin: Russian Children's Book Illustration In preparation, (2008)

He has also written articles for Horn Book and The Baum Bugle

The Baum Bugle

The Baum Bugle: A Journal of Oz is the official journal of The International Wizard of Oz Club. The journal was founded in 1957, with its first issue released in June of that year . It publishes three times per year, with issues dated Spring, Autumn, and Winter; Issue No. 1 of Volume 50 appeared in...

and Liner Notes for Caedmon Records.