The Road to Oz (1909), Y L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum

Published in 1909, THE ROAD TO OZ is the fifth book in Baum's series. In this particular book, Dorothy Gale of Kansas comes to the aid of 'The Shaggy Man'--a likeable hobo in ragged clothes--who asks her for directions. It is easier to show him than explain it to him, but when Dorothy leads him to the proper road she finds a multitude of roads she did not expect and with which she is unfamiliar. She continues with Toto and The Shaggy Man and soon meets two others who are equally lost: Button-Bright, a little boy who seems remarkably stupid, and Polychrome, the daughter of the Rainbow, who is accidentally stranded on earth. Together they visit the strange towns of Foxville and Donkinton and confront a truly nasty group of beings known as Scoodlers. Eventually they arrive in Oz just in time for Ozma's birthday celebration.