Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Way Back Wednesday - The Marvelous Land of Oz

The Marvelous Land of Oz was published on July 5, 1904, and is the second of L. Frank Baum's books set in the Land of Oz, and the sequel to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It is the only book in the series in which Dorothy Gale does not appear.

A little boy named Tip is under the guardianship of a witch named Mombi in Gillikin Country. Tip makes plans to escape from Mombi by frightening her with a scarecrow. Unfortunately, he has no straw to stuff the scarecrow, so Tip makes a man out of wood and gives him a pumpkin for a head, naming him Jack Pumpkinhead. Mombi is not scared and she sprinkles the Powder of Life on Jack, bringing him to life. Mombi then threatens revenge on Tip.
Tip and Jack run away to the Emerald City, which is currently ruled by the Scarecrow. The Tin Woodman now rules the Winkie Kingdom. The Lion is mysteriously absent, just like Dorothy.

We are introduced to several new characters from the Land of Oz: General Jinjur's all-girl Army of Revolt, the Wogglebug, the flying Gump, Jackdaws, and most importantly Ozma who is the rightful ruler of the Emerald City.

Return to Oz is a 1985 Disney film which has many elements from The Marvelous Land of Oz. Of all the Oz books, I think this is my least favorite because Dorothy is missing, but I did enjoy the Return to Oz movie.

2 comments:

Shelley said...

I never even knew about this book or movie! Informative post / review as always!

Ann H Gabhart said...

I didn't know there was an Oz series. I'm always discovering new things about books reading your book nook.