...hold on, there's something at the door.
...
Hey! Shipping from Belen is really fast! Got a new box of Oz books from Chris Dulabone!
Huh, which one to read next... Hmmm... Ah, Do It For Oz looks fun, and I recall reading Eric Gjovaag's review of it on his website. Let's try that one!
One day later...
Do It For Oz isn't a long Oz story. It was written in 1990, but wasn't published until 2002. Partly because Chris really doesn't like publishing Oz books without pictures, and considering this one is illustrated by Luciano Vecchio, it was worth waiting for!
Do It draws from a number of Baum books: The Road to Oz, The Enchanted Island of Yew and Dot and Tot of Merryland chiefly.
The book starts on the pleasantly titled Island of Malaria in the Nonestic Ocean, where the jolly Duke reigns with his not so jolly wife Madame Innador. Since they have no children, the Duke put Madame in charge of the orphanage, where his favorite orphan is a little girl named Duit. Duit, however, is also the target for most of Madame's cruelty.
One day, though, Duit is given a gift by a centaur: she can turn into a cat and escape punishment. Duit manages to do this until one day she is finally caught.
Then we catch up with Johnny Dooit, who made a brief appearance in The Road to Oz, as he finally gets a little break from his ongoing work. There are some fun misadventures along the way!
Then we go to the Island of Yew, where we find what became of the Red Rogue of Dawna (I believe I have yet to blog about that book), whose backstory Chris expands on, giving him the name Stora. He wishes himself to America, where he gets a job in a grocery store and decides he wants to find Johnny Dooit to help him find Prince Marvel. Who he does meet is Madame Innador. When she hears he's looking for "Dooit," she thinks of "Duit" and assumes they must be one and the same person. So off they go to find her!
So, while Do It For Oz is short, it makes for a delightful book, that is, if you're used to Chris' writing style. And Luciano's artwork make it quite a visually pleasing book as well.
Buy Do It For Oz here!
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