An Abbott In Oz

In the 1990s, Books of Wonder supplemented their deluxe reprints of the Oz books (that's... probably the best term for them) with a host of brand new Oz stories, basically in an attempt to re-launch the Oz series.

One of the big contributors to this new line of Oz books was Donald Abbott, who preferred to illustrate his stories in a manner copying W.W. Denslow. (Books of Wonder had Abbott illustrate their new edition of Dot and Tot of Merryland, which led to some fans incorrectly thinking that they'd used the original Denslow illustrations.)

Abbott had previously written a short story titled "How The Wizard Came To Oz And What He Did There" for Oziana 1976. One of his first books was an expanded version of this story titled How The Wizard Came to Oz. While Joe Bongiorno rules the book version out of continuity in his timeline, he counts the short story, but the book isn't bad, even if it is a bit simple, neatly hitting the points required to neatly tell a Baum-compliant backstory about the Wizard. (It's certainly more book-friendly than Oz the Great and Powerful.)

It tells how Oscar was blown to Oz in his balloon and how he faced off against the Wicked Witches despite having no power, how he built the Emerald City and how Glinda helped him without letting him know who she was. It also tells how the Wicked Witch of the West got the Golden Cap and gives a peek at the origins of the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and Cowardly Lion (even though I think all of them appear way too early in the Oz timeline to really work with the Baum stories).

This book was followed by a sequel titled How The Wizard Saved Oz in which the Queen of the Field Mice sneaks into the Wizard's throne room and begs him to help her find her missing subjects. The Wizard agrees and goes on a covert mission that makes a fun enough story in itself, and also explaining "the real" story behind his three visits to Mombi, because Mombi is behind the disappearance of the mice, along with Captain Riskitt (who was originally a character created for the 1902 musical extravaganza version of The Wizard of Oz) in a plot to concentrate all of the magic in Oz and conquer it.

I suppose it's a fine enough story, but so little happens (the book is less than 100 pages) that it's rather cut and dry. And a more satisfying account of the Wizard's dealing with Mombi was already told in Hugh Pendexter III's "Oz and the Three Witches." Joe doesn't list this Abbott story on his timeline at all.

Abbott then went on to write stories set after The Wonderful Wizard of Oz but before The Marvelous Land of Oz, and one that Joe suggested I read for a story I was working on that's now been folded into my Outsiders from Oz sequel was The Amber Flute of Oz.

Blinkie the Witch of the South awakens the Sand Serpent: a beast that was created to protect the Land of Oz by patrolling the Deadly Desert, but had its mind poisoned over time and then turned to attack Oz. It was put to sleep with the legendary Amber Flute, but only one person knows where that is: the villainous wizard Ozwaldo. Can the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and Cowardly Lion trust a villain as they fight another villain?

While rather simple (Abbott cannot write a great plot twist), it was an enjoyable adventure story for our friends.