Sarah K. Crotzer first discovered the Oz books in kindergarten, and they rapidly rose beyond dozens of other imaginative and fantastical books to become her favorites. She was delighted to find the majority of them at a local library and by age 11 had completed her goal of reading the entire 40-book series. Along the way, having been given a membership to the International Wizard of Oz Club, she became a dedicated enthusiast of The Baum Bugle under the editorships of Michael Gessel and Lynne Smith.
After a break initiated by traditional adolescent and college-age interests, Sarah rediscovered Oz through her beloved books in her early 30s, at which point she re-engaged with the Oz Club. After a few years, she answered an ad in the Bugle that asked for volunteer assistance. Under Scott Cummings, she quickly moved from proofreader to sub-editor of the “Sight and Sound” department, a position she retained under John Fricke in 2017. At the end of that year, they both supported her application to become editor-in-chief of the journal.
As editor-in-chief, Sarah has been committed to the integrity of The Baum Bugle, welcoming back older contributors as well as working with new ones. She freshened up the interior layout and initiated a consistent documentation style (Chicago) for cited research. In 2023, she composed an issue-by-issue guide to The Baum Bugle for the Oz Club’s website, and in 2024 she was able to debut digitzed versions of more than fifty archival Bugle features online. Now in her eighth year of editorship, Sarah continues to look for ways to add diverse perspectives to the Bugle and continue its rich legacy for Ozites of the future.