The Oz Books
The full Oz sequence, Baum's books and the official successors who kept going for decades. Dorothy's first trip turns out to be the least strange thing in it.
- You probably think you know this from the movie, but the book is stranger and drier, with a Tin Woodman who's oddly tender and a wizard who's basically a nervous con man. It reads fast and light, good for a rainy afternoon or reading aloud.
- No Dorothy this time, and it hardly matters: you get Tip running away from a witch with Jack Pumpkinhead wobbling beside him, a wooden sawhorse brought clattering to life, and Jinjur's girl army storming the Emerald City. Sillier than the first book, and stranger, in a good way.
- You’ll enjoy Dorothy’s return to Oz, where a prickly hen named Billina and the wind-up Tik-Tok make wonderfully odd companions. The Nome King’s underground kingdom gives the book a stranger, slightly darker texture than the earlier Oz adventures, while Dorothy remains practical, brave, and refreshingly unimpressed by nonsense.
- You get Dorothy at her most resourceful here, stranded after a California earthquake and making her way through bizarre underground countries with the Wizard, who is brave in bursts but still a nervous showman. It’s a stranger, more episodic Oz book, best if you enjoy Baum’s odd landscapes more than a tightly shaped adventure.
- Fair warning, there's barely a plot: Dorothy and the Shaggy Man just wander strange roads picking up strays like Polychrome, the rainbow's daughter, until everyone lands at Ozma's birthday party. If you want stakes, skip it; if you want gentle, dreamy company, it's lovely.
- You get a gentler, more domestic Oz here, with Dorothy bringing Aunt Em and Uncle Henry to meet Ozma and settle into an almost utopian life. It’s episodic rather than quest-driven, but the contrast between Oz’s kindness and the Nome King’s threatened invasion gives the book a surprisingly uneasy edge.
- You get a wonderfully odd Oz adventure here, with Ojo’s anxious earnestness balanced by Scraps, a patchwork girl who treats every danger as an excuse for mischief. The journey wanders through Baum’s usual bright strangeness, though its episodic shape suits you better if you enjoy fairy-tale detours over a tightly driven plot.
- You get Tik-Tok’s wonderfully literal voice, Betsy Bobbin’s practical courage, and a journey that moves from cheerful Oz nonsense into the eerie underground kingdom of the Nome King. It’s more episodic than some Oz books, but the oddness keeps accumulating in a lovely way.
- You follow Trot and the one-legged Cap’n Bill through a wonderfully odd chain of islands and kingdoms, with Button-Bright making trouble and the Scarecrow appearing in a surprisingly central role. It’s episodic and dreamlike rather than tightly plotted, but the inventions keep rewarding your curiosity.
- You get a funny, slightly odd adventure led by the blustering King Rinkitink, the resourceful Prince Inga, and Bilbil, a famously bad-tempered goat. It spends more time on island kingdoms and captivity than on Oz itself, but the magic pearls and loyal friendships make the detour worthwhile.
- You get the gentler, dreamier side of Oz here, with Dorothy following a trail of missing objects through strange landscapes and meeting the wonderfully odd Button-Bright and Ojo. It’s episodic and a little slight, but the playful details and affectionate friendships make it easy to settle into.
- You get Baum’s odd blend of silliness and melancholy here, especially in the Tin Woodman’s tender concern for Nimmie Amee and his meeting with Captain Fyter. The journey wanders through inventive Oz country, so you’ll enjoy it most when you’re happy to follow whim rather than urgency.
- You’ll enjoy this if you like Oz at its most eccentric: Ozma’s birthday brings talking animals, a missing magic dishpan, and Kiki Aru’s dangerously useful transformation spells. It’s a slight, episodic read, but the parade of odd ideas and Baum’s cheerful nonsense still has real charm.
- You get Dorothy and Ozma traveling with Glinda into the strange country of the Flatheads, where Baum’s imagination turns geography into play. It’s a gentle, episodic late Oz book, more curious than suspenseful, and especially good when you want the familiar characters in a slightly dreamier, less polished adventure.
- 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 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.
- 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.
- 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’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 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.
- 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.
- 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’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.
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- Baum's short Oz pieces, chiefly the Little Wizard Stories: quick episodes that put Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and company through one neat scrape apiece. Written for younger readers than the novels; small servings with the original voice intact.
- public domain 2068
- public domain 2072