Captain Salt in Oz

Oz Continued #30

by Ruth Plumly Thompson

Book 30 in The Wizard of Oz

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Childrens, Classics, Young Adult, Adventure, Ebooks

308 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1936

About the author

An avid reader of Baum's books and a lifelong children's writer, Thompson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and began her writing career in 1914 when she took a job with the Philadelphia Public Ledger; she wrote a weekly children's column for the newspaper. She had already published her first children's book, The Perhappsy Chaps, and her second, The Princess of Cozytown, was pending publication when William Lee, vice president of Baum's publisher Reilly & Lee, solicited Thompson to continue the Oz series. (Rumors among fans that Thompson was Baum's niece were untrue.) Between 1921 and 1939, she wrote one Oz book a year. (Thompson was the primary supporter of her widowed mother and invalid sister, so that the annual income from the Oz books was important for her financial circumstances.)

Thompson's contributions to the Oz series are lively and imaginative, featuring a wide range of colorful and unusual characters. However, one particular theme repeats over and over throughout her novels, with little variation. Typically in each of Thompson's Oz novels, a child (usually from America) and a supernatural companion (usually a talking animal), while traveling through Oz or one of the neighboring regions, find themselves in an obscure community where the inhabitants engage in a single activity. The inhabitants of this community then capture the travelers, and force them to participate in this same activity.

Another major theme has elderly characters, most controversially, the Good Witch of the North, being restored to "marriageable" age, possibly because Thompson herself never married. She had a greater tendency toward the use of romantic love stories (which Baum usually avoided in his fairy tales, with about 4 exceptions). While Baum's child protagonists tended to be little girls, Thompson's were boys. She emphasized humor to a greater extent than Baum did, and always considered her work for children, whereas Baum, while first and foremost considering his child audience, knew that his readership comprised all ages.

Thompson's last Oz story, The Enchanted Island of Oz(1976), was not originally written as an Oz book.

Reviews

[Janelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars. Which makes this my least favourite Oz book so far. Oz is only ever referred to, the characters are hard to like, although Tandy improves as the book progresses. And the plot is unappealing. Oz has joined the era of colonisation and has sent Captain Salt on a voyage to explore and find new countries for settlers. Ugh.

[AyesalyaM · Rating 5 out of 5]

The plot is unequivocally well-writen, books are totally addictive.

[Dane Cobain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, so if you notice that the word count (and thus the length) of this review is a little different to the other Oz books I’ve read lately, that’s because I read this in a crappy public domain edition that didn’t really do the stories as much justice as the other editions I’ve been reading.

Anyway, it was another fun instalment in the Oz series and had more of the same, from the random-as-hell plots to the fun puns and the classic cameos from our old favourites. It also has quite a lot of piracy, which meant that I ended up chuckling a lot every time someone said “seaman”.

The last three or four Oz books have all been a lot of fun, so I’m pretty happy.

[Derek L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this is the worst Oz book I've ever read. I never cared for Captain Salt as a character and in this book I found him to be really annoying. I still love the Read Bird with my heart, but not even the Read Bird or Tandy could save this book! Not to mention the glaring colonialism that this book has throughout the story. Oz was merely a name-drop throughout the story, which was another let-down for me.

I am still continuing with this series, despite the disappointment of this book.

[Christopher Schmehl · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book but not a GREAT book. Great characters and nifty adventures. The plot and story structure could have used a little work. Maybe a better editing job. Otherwise, pretty darn good.
As far as Oz goes? I suppose this was the "Oz cruise" story in which we got secondary character development.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Possibly my least favorite Oz book to date. For having previous adventures set with tales of enchantments and quests to save magical kingdoms, this book was lackluster. The pacing was done quite poorly and the new and wondrous lands were nothing to write home about. It is possible that had Thompson expanded on some of these ideas it could have been much better. Cast was another flaw. Samuel Salt is an okay character, but really not necessarily title character worthy. Then there is Ato, to me he is a poor replacement for King Rinkitink and have thought that about him since Pirates in Oz (and not just because Neil's drawings for the two are similar). Roger the Read Bird is okay and has some fun lines throughout. The "child" character of this book is King Tandy who is found stranded on a tropical island. He is a flat and very boring and pointless character and the big climax of the book happens when Salt and crew take Tandy back to his home of Ozamaland. Climax is only a technical term however, as this resolution is even weaker than other Oz books who wrap up a little to neat and clean. And since Thompson is writing there must be a new animal introduced, this time Nikobo the hippo. She's nothing too special either I am afraid to say. I only hope the Fabulous Forty I read from here on out are more satisfying.

[Troy Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alright.
As a whole colorful and inventive. I have a special love for books that are traveling adventures, especially by sea. This one is over the rainbow, but exciting. My biggest complaint is that the characters are so very flat. I think such a thing can happen when you make a point to note that it is impossible for anything bad to really happen in OZ (so that the children who are reading don't actually get nervous or concerned for the characters).
Also, interesting addition to Baum's famous desire to make "modern fairytales" for a "modern child" and the possiblity that his book is a bit touched by Populist arguments for a silver standard. Thompson's book is a fairytale "touched" not too lightly by a certain belief in manifest destiny... or perhaps more explicitly, of the pacific rim impeialism before WWI.

[Elena · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess the grass is always greener. The first book of the series to not include a trip to the Emerald City. Somehow it felt incomplete without this piece of the puzzle even though I've previously grown tired of the predictable endings in the previous books.

Also it's hard to shake the uncomfortableness of imperialism that this book has built with age. Oz sends out an explore to conquer other nations, even if it's without violent force. The Crescent Moon is just riding around and declaring the other people are now ruled by Ozma and those people agree to it without objection. It just seems a very white washed view of imperialism.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A retired pirate, a talking bird and a King who'd rather be a cook are the crew of a very cool ship and act as 'Royal Explorers' for Ozma of Oz, discovering new lands and peoples.
Along the way , they take on a cabin boy, who is in fact an exiled Prince, a talking hippo and save a small island kingdom.

One of the better of the non-Baum Oz books.

[hpboy13 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nowhere close to the charm, magic, and inventiveness of the originals. These books should not be considered Oz canon.