Ruth Plumly Thompson
10 books
- You get a wonderfully odd Oz adventure led by Grampa, a boastful old sailor whose sea stories and stubbornness make him as entertaining as the magical trouble around him. The book has Thompson’s brisk, punny energy, though its strange transformations and episodic wandering suit you better than a tightly plotted quest.
- Jack Pumpkinhead and a Philadelphia boy named Peter march against a robber baron, alongside a nobleman whose beard grows faster than he can cut it. Pure comic quest; Jack's placid pumpkin-headed logic is the running pleasure.
- You get a wonderfully odd Oz adventure here, with Prince Pompadore and Kabumpo, an elephant so grandly fussy he comments on everyone’s manners. It’s episodic and old-fashioned, but the jokes, strange transformations, and Kabumpo’s splendidly irritable dignity make it worth the detour.
- You spend time with the Cowardly Lion beyond his usual supporting role, watching his bluster, appetite, and genuine decency carry him through Thompson’s oddball kingdoms. It wanders more than Baum and takes some patience, but if you like Oz at its stranger, joke-filled edges, you’ll have a good time.
- High Boy, a giant horse with telescoping legs, carries a quest to free the Ozure Isles from the monster Quiberon, while Benny, a living statue fresh from Boston, learns to be a person. Mid-run Thompson with the invention firing steadily.
- You get Ruggedo, the old Nome King, in full blustering, quarrelsome form, and Ruth Plumly Thompson surrounds him with the oddball wordplay and perilous nonsense she does so well. Peter Brown’s bewildered journey through Oz feels rougher and stranger than Baum, but pleasingly so.
- You’re in good company with Betsy Bobbin and the Hungry Tiger, whose enormous appetite is forever checked by his conscience. The story wanders through wonderfully odd corners of Oz, with Thompson’s brisk wordplay and comic creatures, though its episodic, slightly chaotic feel suits you better than a tightly plotted adventure.
- You’d enjoy this if you like Oz a little stranger and more comic than Baum’s version: Dorothy’s search for Ozma’s long-lost father, Pastoria, takes her through a parade of eccentric kingdoms and creatures. Thompson keeps the journey brisk and gloriously odd, though her wordplay and busy detours can feel like an acquired taste.
- You get an especially good Scarecrow here, fussy, resourceful, and more emotionally exposed than usual, alongside Dorothy, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion. It’s a busier, stranger Oz book than Baum’s, full of odd kingdoms and sudden detours, but that unruliness gives it a pleasing storybook energy.
- You’ll enjoy this if Oz’s sillier, more medieval side appeals to you: Sir Hokus of Pokes brings wonderfully old-fashioned chivalry, stubbornness, and comic dignity to every strange encounter. It’s a brisk, eccentric adventure, though Thompson’s whimsy can feel pleasantly overstuffed rather than tightly plotted.