Three Oz Books

The Speckled Rose of Oz by Donald Abbott
Another book set before the events of The Marvelous Land of Oz, Abbott gives the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and Cowardly Lion another adventure as the wicked Poison Oak and Sir Wiley Gyle (brother of the Wicked Witches) try to turn Oz into a swamp by killing the Speckled Rose of Oz.

Abbott is imaginative here, even if the flow of his stories is still a bit too uneven. Not highly recommended, but not one to avoid either.

The Unwinged Monkey of Oz by Peter Schulenberg
Paramount the monkey has a problem: he was born without wings! Having had enough of feeling like he doesn't belong, he runs away from home and encounters some strange new friends, such as a man who inexplicably turns into a Gump but has no memory of either life, and a cavern full of people made of wet clay. Along the way, Paramount gets wind of a plot by a wicked witch and does what he can to stop her.

Schulenberg improves over past stories by including an antagonist. That said, the antagonist is defeated fairly easily. Still, Schulenberg definitely knows his Oz and clearly displays it here.

The Patchwork Bride of Oz by Gilbert M. Sprague
A short story sees the Scarecrow and Scraps get married. There's a nice twist at the end.

Only complaint? It's far too short. It should have been a centerpiece in a book of short stories, not a book of its own. Still, if you can track it down, enjoy!

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.

More Oz books!

 Now to go ahead and finish this box of Oz books that I've read...

Pegasus in Oz by Annie Brzozowski — Many people from the Emerald City head to Ev to free a pegasus (a winged horse) from a cyclops! Meanwhile, a boy named Don Mullinquy finds his way to Ev from Wyoming.

This story isn't really one of the best. There are far too many characters going to Ev from Oz, and few of them do anything. Nathan wrote about it over a year ago, and I agree with his assessment: there's a good plot, but it's not fully developed. If the writer is still writing, it may be something for her to try again.

The illustrations by Steve Burt are cartoony and fun, but there's far too few.

Buy Pegasus in Oz here.

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The Magic Chest of Oz by Donald Abbott — Donald Abbott wrote a number of Oz stories set before and just after The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. This is one of them, set some time before The Marvelous Land of Oz. (It is also the only book in this blog that Chris Dulabone didn't publish.)

The Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and Cowardly Lion are all doing their duties around Oz, when a number of Munchkins accidentally free the shadow of the Wicked Witch of the East. She locked it away when it came to life, taking the name Malvonia. With some help from the Good Witches, can the famous trio defeat Malvonia before she takes on a real body?

The story is actually pretty good, though rather direct. The illustrations on the other hand, I really wish Abbott had tried to find his own style. It's obvious he prefers Denslow over Neill, and there's no problem with that, but I'd like to see Abbott work out his own style. If he's managed to develop a style like Denslow's, then that's amazing, but I'd like to see what he'd develop on his own.

Buy The Magic Chest of Oz here.

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A Mystical Magical Super Adventure in Oz by Chris Dulabone and Marin Xiques — This is a follow up to A Silver Elf in Oz, detailing how the people of Ciudad del Nino adjust to living in Oz after being relocated from New Mexico. Approximately the first half of the the book tell how Faith and Gideon Shelcore deal with snobby (formerly) rich girl Delilah Summers.

In the second half, Delilah gets transported while trying to pull a prank during a school field trip to the Springbok Forest of Oz. She winds up going on a quest to find the golden Pylowe of Huwlanne.

I won't spoil the ending, but it was far from the re-defining character moment for Delilah that I thought it would be at the end, wiped out with a next-to-last page twist.

Melody Grandy provides a few illustrations, but there's far too few. There's exactly 100 pages between the first illustration in the text and the second one. Melody's illustrations are beautiful, but there's far too few.

Get A Mystical Magical Super Adventure in Oz here.

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Finally, The Magic Topaz of Oz by Carol P. Silva, Marin Xiques and Bob Evans — This story follows up on The Forest Monster of Oz, which left Tweaty the Canary transformed into a cat-sized, orange elephant. After being advised to try to be happy, in case he can't ever regain his former shape, he meets Judy the Rhinoceros, who gives him the Topaz Topsaz, which allows him to do the things he wanted to do.

Tweaty goes around the forest, trying to help whoever he meets by using the topaz to grant their wishes. But is giving the other animals exactly what they want good for them? And will Tweaty ever be restored?

The story makes a really good point and is a lot of fun, though its entire premise is built on an unresolved issue in Forest Monster.

The illustrations by Lauren Marie Finley are actually more like poster art, depicting the animal characters, but they're very nicely done, very realistic.

Get The Magic Topaz of Oz here.