Reading List Update: # 3 - 6
Jan. 12th, 2008 11:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedibuttercupAnd... more of the Oz series. Curiouser and curiouser.
3. The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Hardcover, large print, 340pp. 7th of the Oz series. Reread. The bit that everyone remembers of this one is the Patchwork Girl herself, animated by the same Dr. Pipt's Powder of Life previously featured in Tip/Ozma's first adventure. She's whimsical, high-spirited, and ends up mutually fascinated with the Scarecrow-- clothpeople romance? Very cute. Not so cute are the subplots wherein Ozma bans all magic in the realms save Glinda's, and spends a lot of time watching her subjects in her Magic Picture for evidence of wrongdoing. The book follows Ojo, nephew of Unc Nunkie (who should have been King of the Munchkins but had inexplicably retired to the remote Blue Forest with baby Ojo back when Ozma first became Queen), in his adventure to save said uncle from a magical accident; other favorites (including Dorothy, of course) befriend or assist or lecture him along the way.
4. Tik-Tok of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Hardcover, large print, 272pp. 8th of the Oz series. Reread. In this one, the sub-Queen of a tiny valley in a remote corner of Oz decides to conquer the rest of the country. Glinda finds out and dumps Ann Soforth and her army outside Oz, coincidentally into the paths of Tik-Tok and the Shaggy Man, who were on an adventure to rescue Shaggy's brother from a recurring villain, the Nome King. A shipwrecked American girl named Betsy, her mule Hank, Polychrome from the 5th book, and Ozga the Rose Princess get tangled up in the plot; in the end, the group enlists a dragon's help, unseats the Nome King, teaches him a lesson, puts the king's Chamberlain Kaliko on the throne, finds Shaggy's brother, and then gets yanked to Oz for happily-ever-after-ness. Dorothy, of course, befriends Betsy instantly-- and Toto finally speaks.
5. The Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Hardcover, large print, 288pp. 9th of the Oz series. Reread. The Scarecrow actually only appears 2/3 of the way through, after Glinda decides to send him to intervene in the main plot. And he seems to have lost most of his wisdom, as he gets in several stupid scrapes that the other characters rescue him from. Ahem. Anyway, it's mostly about a girl called Trot and a one-legged retired sailor, Cap'n Bill, who boards at her mother's house. While he's babysitting her-- exploring in a boat-- they're sucked into a magic whirlpool, and after several adventures run across Button-Bright (of book 5) and a flying creature called an Ork who takes them into Oz. Unfortunately, they land in Jinxland, another of those blocked-off corners with a cruel sub-King, and get caught up in magical hijinks there, including a forced-marriage subplot. Of course, all ends happily, and Trot joins Betsy as the next Mary-Sue Best Friend of Dorothy After Ozma.
6. Rinkitink in Oz by L. Frank Baum. Hardcover, large print, 314pp. 10th of the Oz series. Reread. Contains the first appearance of an actual map of Oz and its neighboring countries. Set almost entirely in those neighboring countries, in fact, and is better for it. It concerns the rather engrossing tale of Prince Inga of Pingaree (with his friend, of the title) who sets out, with the help of three inherited Magic Pearls, to rescue his family and their subjects after a neighboring pair of monarchs conquers, plunders, and carries them off. Near the very end, when Inga has rescued almost everyone and rebuilding is underway, the evil monarchs escape alone with Inga's mom and dad and take them to the prisons of the Nome King. Inga follows, but can't quite save them-- and at this point, Dorothy, who'd noticed their plight via Glinda's Big Brother-y magic records book, arrives to enforce a happy ending.
Now, I still love these books. Very much. And on a children's story level, they remain very entertaining. But I can't help but analyze the underpinning structure as I go, and much of it is a lot more ominous than I think Baum ever intended. Yes, this is the world of "Tin Man", indeed.
A thought: consider that back in Book 1, the last person to own the Golden Cap that granted dominion over the flying monkeys was the Royal Sorceress Glinda herself...
~
3. The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Hardcover, large print, 340pp. 7th of the Oz series. Reread. The bit that everyone remembers of this one is the Patchwork Girl herself, animated by the same Dr. Pipt's Powder of Life previously featured in Tip/Ozma's first adventure. She's whimsical, high-spirited, and ends up mutually fascinated with the Scarecrow-- clothpeople romance? Very cute. Not so cute are the subplots wherein Ozma bans all magic in the realms save Glinda's, and spends a lot of time watching her subjects in her Magic Picture for evidence of wrongdoing. The book follows Ojo, nephew of Unc Nunkie (who should have been King of the Munchkins but had inexplicably retired to the remote Blue Forest with baby Ojo back when Ozma first became Queen), in his adventure to save said uncle from a magical accident; other favorites (including Dorothy, of course) befriend or assist or lecture him along the way.
4. Tik-Tok of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Hardcover, large print, 272pp. 8th of the Oz series. Reread. In this one, the sub-Queen of a tiny valley in a remote corner of Oz decides to conquer the rest of the country. Glinda finds out and dumps Ann Soforth and her army outside Oz, coincidentally into the paths of Tik-Tok and the Shaggy Man, who were on an adventure to rescue Shaggy's brother from a recurring villain, the Nome King. A shipwrecked American girl named Betsy, her mule Hank, Polychrome from the 5th book, and Ozga the Rose Princess get tangled up in the plot; in the end, the group enlists a dragon's help, unseats the Nome King, teaches him a lesson, puts the king's Chamberlain Kaliko on the throne, finds Shaggy's brother, and then gets yanked to Oz for happily-ever-after-ness. Dorothy, of course, befriends Betsy instantly-- and Toto finally speaks.
5. The Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Hardcover, large print, 288pp. 9th of the Oz series. Reread. The Scarecrow actually only appears 2/3 of the way through, after Glinda decides to send him to intervene in the main plot. And he seems to have lost most of his wisdom, as he gets in several stupid scrapes that the other characters rescue him from. Ahem. Anyway, it's mostly about a girl called Trot and a one-legged retired sailor, Cap'n Bill, who boards at her mother's house. While he's babysitting her-- exploring in a boat-- they're sucked into a magic whirlpool, and after several adventures run across Button-Bright (of book 5) and a flying creature called an Ork who takes them into Oz. Unfortunately, they land in Jinxland, another of those blocked-off corners with a cruel sub-King, and get caught up in magical hijinks there, including a forced-marriage subplot. Of course, all ends happily, and Trot joins Betsy as the next Mary-Sue Best Friend of Dorothy After Ozma.
6. Rinkitink in Oz by L. Frank Baum. Hardcover, large print, 314pp. 10th of the Oz series. Reread. Contains the first appearance of an actual map of Oz and its neighboring countries. Set almost entirely in those neighboring countries, in fact, and is better for it. It concerns the rather engrossing tale of Prince Inga of Pingaree (with his friend, of the title) who sets out, with the help of three inherited Magic Pearls, to rescue his family and their subjects after a neighboring pair of monarchs conquers, plunders, and carries them off. Near the very end, when Inga has rescued almost everyone and rebuilding is underway, the evil monarchs escape alone with Inga's mom and dad and take them to the prisons of the Nome King. Inga follows, but can't quite save them-- and at this point, Dorothy, who'd noticed their plight via Glinda's Big Brother-y magic records book, arrives to enforce a happy ending.
Now, I still love these books. Very much. And on a children's story level, they remain very entertaining. But I can't help but analyze the underpinning structure as I go, and much of it is a lot more ominous than I think Baum ever intended. Yes, this is the world of "Tin Man", indeed.
A thought: consider that back in Book 1, the last person to own the Golden Cap that granted dominion over the flying monkeys was the Royal Sorceress Glinda herself...
~
