Look, I had a really good weekend.
Yookoohoos of Oz is the third Oz book by Paul Dana, who's now kind of up there as a good friend. That might make me biased, but for what it's worth, I don't read poorly written books very quickly.
Paul's Oz books tend to focus around Ojo and Button-Bright, who L. Frank Baum established as friends in The Lost Princess of Oz. His books have some major developments for the pair, so it's kind of hard to talk about one of the ones after the first without touching on spoilers. The series also builds on the lore of Yookoohoos, the transformation practitioners we first met in The Tin Woodman of Oz and again in Glinda of Oz.
Just to catch up, the first two books are The Law of Oz and Other Stories and The Magic Umbrella of Oz.
Let's try a spoiler-free review: a gathering of Yookoohoos goes completely awry when a surprising new Yookoohoo arrives with a special present. It's up to Ojo, Button-Bright, Grandma Natch and some of their new friends in a mysterious magical adventure.
There really isn't a major villain in the book, and major Oz characters like just about the entire cast of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and The Marvelous Land of Oz don't even appear. Still, Paul writes the story at a good pace and clearly isn't tired of the characters he's invested in during his previous stories. Far more interesting is that the book is written from the first person view of Ojo, instead of from the third person as most Oz books are. While it's a change, it's not unwelcome.
The book is illustrated by Vincent Myrand, who does some dynamic yet somehow also dream-like illustrations that suit Oz so well.
There's a few ways to get a copy. There's a deluxe hardcover edition with some color illustrations, a standard hardcover without color illustrations and also a paperback.
In addition, you can pick up a copy at OzCon International and have Paul sign it right there. Or you can buy a copy ahead of time and he'll happily sign it. He'll also lead a bit of programming discussing Yookoohoos. So, you could just get a book online and read it, or you can come to OzCon, get an autographed copy and the whole Paul Dana experience (patent pending).
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