Grandpa in Oz

Oz Continued #18

by Ruth Plumly Thompson

This book is all about an old soldier called Grandpa, a young Prince, a lost Princess, and a weather cock named Bill.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Childrens, Classics, Young Adult, Juvenile, Science Fiction Fantasy

271 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1924

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

[Dan'l Danehy-Oakes · Rating 2 out of 5]

At this point, Thompson has a clear formula: she sets out three groups of people with three different problems, and has them come together to solve the problems jointly; generally followed by a jolly Oz party.

The first group sets out from Ragbad. Ragbad, in Quadling country, about as far from Emerald City as you can be and still be in Oz, produces cloth from its fields, and used to be quite prosperous; mismanagement by King Fumbo has brought bad times upon it. In a great storm, Fumbo loses his head -- quite literally; it is carried off by the wind. An elderly soldier known as Grandpa accompanies Prince Tatters on a quest to find the head, and his fortune, preferably by marrying a wealthy princess. Their adventures take them past the Impassible Desert, north of Ix and Ev, and into the Nonestic Ocean, which surrounds the continent of which Oz forms the center. Along the way they pick up a weathercock from Chicagoo who comes and goes by the name of Bill; an apparent flower fairy named Urtha; and a bottle of medicine for nearly everything (just follow the rather detailed instructions) lost by a wizard named Gorba.

On Perhaps Mountain, the Peer of Haps is confronted by his country's prophet, who informs the Peer that, in four days, his daughter will marry a monster. Abrog (the prophet) offers to marry Princess Pretty Good (where does Thompson get these names...) to prevent this. The Peer is not entirely happy with this idea, so Abrog absconds with the Princess. The Forgetful Poet of Perhaps Mountain, one Percy Vere (yes, I'm afraid so) volunteers to make the tricky descent of the mountain and search for the Princess.

Dorothy sets out from Emerald City with Toto to visit her friends in Winkie Country. She gets lost. In fairly short time, she falls in with the Poet, and they search together for (a) the Princess and (b) their way, ultimately being captured by a tribe of Wash-Women on Monday Mountain, where it is always Monday, and therefore always laundry day.

I am absolutely not making this up.

Ultimately, of course, their paths join up with those of Grandpa, and everybody has a happy ending, except for Abrog, who pretty much gets what he deserves.

This volume -- Thompson's fourth -- though fairly well-structured, is almost embarassing in its names and jokes. She was doing better, and I hope she does better in the next one I read, or it may well be the last. I have several non-Oz Baum books for when I need a short and easy read...

[Pierce Franco · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, I liked this story... I liked it more than the previous one The Cowardly Lion of Oz.

Like in others Oz stories, there's always a magic artifact or some Deus ex machina plot twist... But in this book, basically, without Gorba's magic medicine that literally solves any problem that the characters encounter with, there is no story at all.

However, the only one thing I really disliked about this book that also reappears in other books like in Tik-Tok of Oz and Queen Ann in Oz are guns (Firearms). I hate guns, and I can't understand why sometimes this is a recurring element in some Oz stories. I understand Grampa as the stereotype old solder with his old military customs and rituals. But this is something that will always spoil my reading experience in this wonderful series.

[Dane Cobain · Rating 3 out of 5]

This might be the weakest of the Plumly Thompson trips to Oz that I’ve read so far, and I can’t quite put my finger on exactly why that is. I don’t think there was anything specifically wrong with it, it’s just that it didn’t strike the same chord with me that her others did.

I think that’s born out by the fact that even though I planned to tab it out as I went along, there just wasn’t enough in there for me to get a video review out of it. It was an okay story and it was competently told, but there just isn’t much to say about it.

I think part of that is because there were fewer gags, and it’s often the puns in these books that get me reaching for my sticky tabs. Even when she did work in a pun or two, they either fell flat or just weren’t at their best.

I think that’s a good thing in some ways though, because the reason that there are fewer jokes is that she’s focussing more heavily on the story line. For perhaps the first time in my memory, we have an Oz story that makes some sense. Ironically, I’m not actually sure that’s a good thing.

[Derek L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This really was not the best entry in the Thompson books. The story was okay, and it seemed like Dorothy was just thrown into the story to connect it to the Oz world. I am hoping that I end up enjoying the next book written by Thompson.

[Tom Shrimplin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! What a lot of adventures! You never know where the characters are going next!

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Privileged Home Labyrinth 006699

[Kristen (belles_bookshelves) · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Always take things easy."

I mean, would it even be an Oz book if there wasn't royalty in disguise somewhere along the way?

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Kingdom of Ragbad is having a rough time: They are poor, the crops aren't doing well, and then a huge storm not only damages the castle, but blows the kings head clean off and sends it flying across Oz.
So, young Prince Tatters and Grandpa, who is not only the greatest soldier in the kingdom, but may be the entire actual army of Ragbad, set out to find the king's head and hopefully an eligible Princess with a fortune for the prince.

They gather a couple more magical companions and get bounced all around the various magical kingdoms.

A fun romp, with lots of moments of humor and some great adventure set pieces.
It also has Plumly-Thompson's tendency to rush and blow through ideas that she hardly ever returns to.
The ending is also rushed, but has some sweet moments, so I can forgive her.

[Nathan Dehoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, the book doesn't have a very good title, but I can't really say what would have made for a better one. The plot is sort of a rehash of Kabumpo in Oz in a way, as it has the prince of a small Ozian kingdom having to marry a princess to save his country from ruin, and finding that, due to an enchantment, she's someone he'd already gotten to know and love. While Kabumpo was already not especially serious, this take on the plot is even sillier, with many jokes and absurdities from the very beginning of the story. It starts with King Fumbo of Ragbad's head blowing away in a storm, probably borrowed from The Magical Monarch of Mo, and Prince Tatters having to find his father's head, as well as a fortune and a princess. His love interest this time, Urtha, is just as cheerful as Peg Amy, but less practical and more whimsical and energetic, a lot like Polychrome, who makes an appearance herself as well, her first in a Thompson book. We learn more about the wizard who enchanted her than we do about Glegg, who just shows up at the end, and there's a hint of his double identity that readers might figure out before it's specifically stated at the end. There's no character in this one as well-realized as Kabumpo, but Grampa is likeable enough, a grouchy old soldier who loves to reminisce. It's funny in retrospect that Tatters finds his taking snuff to be a bad habit, but not his smoking, which he treats as a hobby. Grampa isn't actually anyone's grandfather, at least as far as we know (he's an old bachelor), but we aren't told whether that's a nickname or his parents were just really hoping for great-grandchildren. Times change, I suppose. Bill, the live weathercock with a one-track mind is somewhat one-note, but I find him amusing. Percy Vere, the Forgetful Poet, is a more fleshed-out version of a character from Thompson's word games in her newspaper column. He's not fleshed out THAT much, as his main thing remains leaving out the last words of his rhymes, but he's pretty charming. And filling out the cast are Dorothy and Toto, as Thompson probably didn't think she could get away with using only her own characters at this point. This is, however, the first one that doesn't even show us what's going on in the Emerald City until the last chapter. And I'm quite fond of one pretty minor character, the sky shepherd Maribella who herds stars.

I like the thematic nature of the places the characters visit, based on the four classical elements: an underground garden, islands of fire and ice, and a land in the clouds. The other two small communities visited demonstrate the folly of too much work or play. It's also notable how much Thompson rushes her characters from one place to the next. Grampa and Tatters go the wrong way on a magical winding staircase, get blasted out of a volcano, turn into crows and fly, and are carried into the air during a storm. This last part takes place so soon after the flight that I'm not entirely sure why they didn't just get to the clouds as crows. Crossing between Oz and the neighboring lands also becomes more casual in Thompson, with the Deadly Desert still there but methods of crossing or circumventing it being introduced constantly. They're usually fun, but often feel like narrative shortcuts. It's also convenient that the medicine Grampa finds can cure pretty much anything, but it's put to some very creative uses. A cure for burns, scalds, and heat strokes that can let a person survive a volcanic eruption is really impressive.

[Shoshana · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one kind of annoyed me. For one thing, it was all boys except for stupid Urtha the flower fairy who did nothing but follow along, sprout flowers, be transformed, and be sometimes cheerful and cheering and sometimes frightened. Very little agency, zero interesting activity. I mean, at one point she asks Grampa what she should do to help, and he says, "Just be your lovely little self... and stay whewre we can see you. Why, just to look at you makes me feel like a conquering army with banners flying." Infuriating! And this time the romance did bother me, because she had so little personality that it was totally clear that Tatters fell in love with her only because she is lovely and delicate and cheerful and sometimes needs his help, aka classically feminine.

Also there is Dorothy, which I appreciate because I love her, but even though she does some cool stuff, it feels like RPT is almost throwing her in as a chore, because Dorothy is the main Oz character everyone loves, and so she sort of has to. Or something. Oh yeah, also the ice princess of Isa Poso makes a brief appearance, and is cold and unpleasant and does nothing. In Grampa's youth, "young lads served in the armies of strange kings, slew monsters and were rewarded with half the kingdom and the Princess' hand." Ugh. Oz should be better than this. (It also doesn't endear me to Grampa.)

Some notes:

This is the first book where RPT has gotten the directions wrong, putting the Munchkins in the West and the Winkies in the East; for her first few books she had it right.

I do love Bill. "Here I go by the name of Bill!" The weathercock is a great character and adds liveliness to the whole predictable bunch of travelers.

The washerwoman tribe is a weird idea but I kind of like it. Tatters is fine and his kingdom is fine. None of the stuff in this book really thrilled me. Next up: Lost King, and I hope it's better.

[Fred Klein · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty lame Oz book. The author, in an effort to make the Oz series her own, creates her own characters but neglects the characters that L. Frank Baum created -- the ones the readers really care about. The main problem is that the characters she has created are so similar to Baum's characters that they don't seem worth the effort (except for all the exhausting puns). We already have a sailor with a peg leg; why give us a soldier with a "game" leg (it's literally hollow with a game set inside)? Based on the titles of subsequent Oz books by this author, I think either the publishers directed the author, or the author figured out on her own, that she should concentrate more on Baum's characters.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This follows a theme similar to Kabumpo--the young down-and-out prince and his aged guardian searching for a lost princess, lots of adventures leading to a "surprise" ending. Thompson's writing style is not as charming as Baum's, and in this book she seems to be trying to make up for it with far too many puns inserted in the narrative, many of which will be lost on modern readers (the Tubbies living on Monday Mountain, for example, is only funny if you realize that in the old days, Monday was Wash Day--interesting hillbilly parody, though). Still, as with all of the Oz books so far, Elijah enjoyed it, and I enjoyed reading it to him.

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is pretty formulaic and predictable, but there were enough encounters with crazy Oz people that I enjoyed it. I remembered almost nothing from reading it in high school, so that helped. I know some people don't like Thompson's constant rhymes, but I enjoyed Percy Vere. I wish I could hear more about the shepherdess in the clouds--what a great idea. Come to think of it, there could be a whole book about all the people who live in the clouds and.....oh wait...that's Sky Island, isn't it?

[Edward Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thompson seems to have decided that she wants her own characters for the Oz books and only throws in Dorothy and company for effect, almost as an afterthought. This didn't read like an Oz book, though it did have the usual dry puns you'd expect, and the bluff surprises were pretty obvious if you're paying attention.

[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.

[Carolyn Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Founded on and Continuing The Famous Oz Stories by Frank L Baum."

[Monty Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I love the Baum Oz books (even the bad ones), I've never read the Ruth Plumly Thompson ones. Until now! She writes kind of like she's doing the story for a silent comedy. People are always delivering terrible puns and winking to each other, which seems like something you do to help sell a joke on screen.

So far, they're basically fine. Thompson has mostly stuck to a formula where a group of original characters roams Oz and hooks up with maybe one or two Baum characters.