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Oz Continued #24
The Yellow Knight of Oz
Book 24 in The Wizard of Oz
275 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1930
1 person is currently reading
344 people want to read
About the author
Ruth Plumly Thompson
107 books51 followersAn 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 17, 2017
American Kid Shoots for Mars, Winds Up in Oz
Or, you could entitle this book "Magic's Lethal Labor Lost". Ruth Plumly Thompson turned out a lot of volumes in the decades-long Oz series. Some were "a bit weak" compared to Baum's original twelve. This is quite a good one in which we find three strands that, of course, all wind up meeting at the end. Most of the traditional Oz folks play only bit parts. First, a rusty old knight who speaks "Medieval" goes off on a quest and meets up with another great sample of Oz'ian inhabitants in the backblocks of the Winkie country. At the same time, a nasty Sultan out in the boonies zeroes in on a camel that he lost ten years before. But why does he want this particular camel? Aha! He sends the Grand Vizier in search. The third strand is the one in which Speedy, nephew of an inventor back on Long Island, New York, boards a rocket supposed to take him to Mars with said uncle, but misfires, leaves uncle, and winds up turning around and boring through quite a bit of terra firma into a weird underground kingdom, where he meets a golden princess. They escape back to the surface, but it's Oz, not the USA. I always wished it was I who wound up in Oz, but alas. It all comes together with a whole pile of terrible puns and bad verses. Good guys are rewarded, enchantments are broken, and bad guys are punished. I loved these stories when I was young and still read them from time to time for nostalgic and relaxing reasons. This one introduced one unfortunate trend however. The strange and unpleasant peoples suddenly took on the look of either dark South Sea islanders or of Muslims/Arabs. Back in 1930, such portrayals were no doubt not even noticed, but today it's a negative aspect of the book.
Or, you could entitle this book "Magic's Lethal Labor Lost". Ruth Plumly Thompson turned out a lot of volumes in the decades-long Oz series. Some were "a bit weak" compared to Baum's original twelve. This is quite a good one in which we find three strands that, of course, all wind up meeting at the end. Most of the traditional Oz folks play only bit parts. First, a rusty old knight who speaks "Medieval" goes off on a quest and meets up with another great sample of Oz'ian inhabitants in the backblocks of the Winkie country. At the same time, a nasty Sultan out in the boonies zeroes in on a camel that he lost ten years before. But why does he want this particular camel? Aha! He sends the Grand Vizier in search. The third strand is the one in which Speedy, nephew of an inventor back on Long Island, New York, boards a rocket supposed to take him to Mars with said uncle, but misfires, leaves uncle, and winds up turning around and boring through quite a bit of terra firma into a weird underground kingdom, where he meets a golden princess. They escape back to the surface, but it's Oz, not the USA. I always wished it was I who wound up in Oz, but alas. It all comes together with a whole pile of terrible puns and bad verses. Good guys are rewarded, enchantments are broken, and bad guys are punished. I loved these stories when I was young and still read them from time to time for nostalgic and relaxing reasons. This one introduced one unfortunate trend however. The strange and unpleasant peoples suddenly took on the look of either dark South Sea islanders or of Muslims/Arabs. Back in 1930, such portrayals were no doubt not even noticed, but today it's a negative aspect of the book.
July 11, 2024
Another Thompson's poorly imaginative book. I don't think Sir Hokus is a bad character... not a complete waste of character, at least. However, Ruth Plumly Thompson insisted on having some sort of violent character that is always looking for a battle, a conflict, or a creature to slay. My deal with this character is that he doesn't contrast with the essence of Oz, the Oz created by Mr Baum. Baum was against violence, something Thompson clearly didn't pay tribute in her books.
Thought Samandra is in the wonderful Kingdom of Oz, the animals they're do not have the gift of speech like animals in most other Oz countries...
Contradictions don't bother me (actually, for better or worse, contradictions are part of the Oz history), but what bothers me is changing basic rules. Thompson could have made another story tanking place somewhere beyond the Deadly Desert (out of Oz). So why changing rules now? Completely unnecessary.
Also, in Thompson's books, what Ozma should have forbidden at this point was slavery instead of magic practices. This book makes me say: 'Enough with slavery!'
There are some Thompson's books I've enjoyed more or less... but this is the least I've enjoyed so far. Probably, the only good mystery or twist in this story was finding who took/hid the Magic Picture.
Thought Samandra is in the wonderful Kingdom of Oz, the animals they're do not have the gift of speech like animals in most other Oz countries...
Contradictions don't bother me (actually, for better or worse, contradictions are part of the Oz history), but what bothers me is changing basic rules. Thompson could have made another story tanking place somewhere beyond the Deadly Desert (out of Oz). So why changing rules now? Completely unnecessary.
Also, in Thompson's books, what Ozma should have forbidden at this point was slavery instead of magic practices. This book makes me say: 'Enough with slavery!'
There are some Thompson's books I've enjoyed more or less... but this is the least I've enjoyed so far. Probably, the only good mystery or twist in this story was finding who took/hid the Magic Picture.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 5, 2023
Well, here we go with yet another Oz book. This time, we’re at the 24th book in the series, which I think means I’m somewhere around halfway through. Yeah, it’s a long series.
In this one, we have the usual setup where we meet up with some old friends from Oz, in this case Sir Hocus of Pokus and the Comfortable Camel. We also get someone from our own world, travelling to Oz in a typical unusual way to play a role in the story.
By this point, I have very little to say about each of the books. They’re okay-ish enough to keep me reading, mostly because I’m a completionist, but I can’t say that it’s something I’d recommend to the general reader. The flashes of inspiration that led to the original Oz books are thin on the ground by now, and it comes across in the way that it’s written.
The main saving grace here is that the puns are great, as they usually are. In some cases, it almost feels as though they’re wasted in a children’s book, because I think they’ll often go over younger reader’s heads.
Still, I’m looking forward to reading a few more of these books and seeing what’s next.
In this one, we have the usual setup where we meet up with some old friends from Oz, in this case Sir Hocus of Pokus and the Comfortable Camel. We also get someone from our own world, travelling to Oz in a typical unusual way to play a role in the story.
By this point, I have very little to say about each of the books. They’re okay-ish enough to keep me reading, mostly because I’m a completionist, but I can’t say that it’s something I’d recommend to the general reader. The flashes of inspiration that led to the original Oz books are thin on the ground by now, and it comes across in the way that it’s written.
The main saving grace here is that the puns are great, as they usually are. In some cases, it almost feels as though they’re wasted in a children’s book, because I think they’ll often go over younger reader’s heads.
Still, I’m looking forward to reading a few more of these books and seeing what’s next.
December 4, 2020
A fun story but didn't feel like Oz. This story was so far removed it could have just been another children's book about a Knight going on adventures and then finally finding a wife (That wasn't his intention).
It was a good story and an enjoyable read so I give it credit to it. It was also the most sexualy seggestive Oz book. The bird named Ho, the design of the rocket ship, and just he wording of a couple of scenes.
No complaints just it is not really an Oz book and very stand alone.
It was a good story and an enjoyable read so I give it credit to it. It was also the most sexualy seggestive Oz book. The bird named Ho, the design of the rocket ship, and just he wording of a couple of scenes.
No complaints just it is not really an Oz book and very stand alone.
July 5, 2021
I just wasn't too impressed with this installment of the series. While I do enjoy Sir Hokus of Pokes to be an entertaining character, I just wasn't very invested in his story line or his adventures. I thought the introduction to Speedy from America was well done, but other than that, I didn't really care much about the rest of the book.
March 28, 2020
Great Oz book. It was compelling, exciting, and very much a fairy tale. I enjoyed the story which focused on Sir Hokus and the Comfortable Camel. New character Speedy was interesting, too. Definitely more than "rockets in Oz".
January 19, 2016
After having read 24 Oz books, I think I am qualified to say that there are, basically, two different kinds of Oz stories: (i) one or more established Oz characters go on a journey and have adventures, and (ii) a child from the U.S. is transported to Oz and has adventures and meets up with Oz characters. This story is a combination of both. Two characters previously introduced by Ruth Plumly Thompson -- Sir Hokus of Pokes and the Comfortable Camel -- go off on an adventure. And Speedy, a kid from the U.S., rockets into Oz. The combination of the two Oz story-types into one, however, does not make this an outstanding Oz story. It's not bad, but not outstanding. I still have the usual complaints about Thompson's Oz stories. She gives short shrift to L. Frank Baum's characters in favor of hers, and there are just too many new lands and characters introduced seemingly just for puns. Finally, I am sick and tired of how she cannot get the geography of Oz right (the Winkie Country is in the WEST, not the EAST!).
September 24, 2011
Nowhere close to the charm, magic, and inventiveness of the originals. These books should not be considered Oz canon.
March 11, 2014
Ruth Plumly keeps the Oz delights coming with puns and a nicely woven plot. Plus, a horse chestnut transforms into a chestnut horse. What more can you ask?
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews