By: L. Frank Baum Publisher: Dover Publications Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Dover Publications Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 287 Publication Date: June 01, 1969 Reading Level: Ages 9-12
A fun, imaginative adventure, until.... I read this as a fourth grade girl and found it the best of all Baum's Oz books. I loved the character Tip and his relationship with all of his friends and even with his enemies: Mombi, the scary witch who raised him; the Wizard, a complex character of good and evil; Jack Pumpkinhead, son to the child. I loved all of the other delighful characters: the sawhorse, the Woggle-bug, the amazing flyin Gump, and so many others. I loved how real Tip seemed; a sometimes grumpy, mischevious boy who nevertheless had a good heart. Reading the story, I truly was caught up into a world of magic,wonderful characterization, and great adventure. But the ending brought it all crashing down: not only was Tip given little choice in being changed by Glinda, once changed his whole free-spirited, well-rounded personality was lost. Instead of being restored to his "true self," it seemed to me that all he had grown to be and all that he considered true of himself was sacrificed to the status quo (of course I didn't know that word in the 4th grade, but I knew Tip had suffered an injustice). I still love the joy and fun of the first part of the book, but I can't help but feel it ended in tragedy. Bad Glinda!
Marvelous Sequel Tip has lived with Old Mombi the Sorceress for as long as he can remember, but now he has to run away. He tried to scare her with a pumpkin headed man, but Mombi was not only unshaken by the man, but she brought the pumpkin headed man to life. Not that that's a bad thing, Jack Pumpkinhead is a very likeable chap, even if he does worry a lot about his head spoiling. Tip's more worried about Mombi's potion that'll turn him to stone, because he tried to scare her, Mombi's going to turn him into a statue for her garden. Tip and Jack run away, along with the magic life giving powder of Mombi's, and head towards the Emerald City. The Scarecrow from the original "Wizard of Oz" adventure still rules, but with an army of girls armed with needles, he may not rule for much longer. Is there help for Tip, Jack and the Scarecrow?
It's a pretty fine sequel to the original book, I thought. It flows straight from the first book with the same wit, wordplay and style. There's a lot of new characters to meet (like Jack Pumpkinhead, The Gump, the Sawhorse and H.M Wogglebug) plus a couple of old favorites (like Tinman and the Scarecrow). Chapters are easy to read too. It's worth looking at for fans of Oz, I think. Surprising ending too, I thought. Four and a half stars.
I give it an A... I love the Wizard of Oz books.... I just can't seem to get enough of them.... it brings your mind to a whole different world.... its great for young adults, teens, and adults.... I give it an A...
Charming and entertaining, thoroughly kid-friendly Young Tip (actually Tippetarius) has lived his whole life with the evil witch Mombi. But, when the witch announces that she will turn Tip into a statue, he decides that it is time for him to flee. Having stolen Mombi's Powder of Life, which will animate anything it is sprinkled on, Tip heads off to the Emerald City. But, when the city is conquered by an army of rebellious girls, Tip begins an adventure with Jack Pumpkinhead, an animated saw-horse, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman (who is now nickel-plated), and a highly magnified and thoroughly educated woggle-bug. The rightful queen of the Emerald City is missing, stolen away by the Wonderful Wizard, and it is up to Tip and his friends to find her.
Following the success of his 1900 book, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum (1856-1919) received many letters from children demanding a sequel. Well, in 1904 he broke down and published this, the second of what turned out to be a long list of Oz books. What makes this book stand out from the rest is the simple fact that it is the only one that does not include Dorothy Gale, the lost girl from Kansas!
Overall, I found this to be a charming and entertaining little book. As you would expect from a sequel to the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, it has a cute little, nonsensical storyline that is a lot of fun and thoroughly kid-friendly. If you have a young reader, then I guarantee that they will love this great book. I give it my highest recommendations!
A Great Sequel "The Marvellous Land of Oz" is the second in the Wonderful Oz series by American author L. Frank Baum.
Baum wrote this out of necessity - his other books written after "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" was published in 1900 weren't selling wonderfully, and all he had heard, he alleges in his foreword, were demands to hear more about Oz. And so, when the well ran dry, he wrote and had published the long-awaited sequel.
Baum departs from his earlier themes in "Wizard" to some extent. "Wizard" has a strongly American flavour, in which a young Kansas girl goes to Oz and encounters all sorts of dangers, but bravely facing them until she returns home. This book does not include Dorothy Gale, but is intended, as is indicated by the sub-title of this story, to be "An Account of the Further Adventures of the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman". No one from America or outside Oz appears in "Marvellous Land".
The protagonist, however, is a young boy called Tip, who runs away from his guardian, a wicked old witch called Mombi (didn't Dorothy destroy them all?) with his invention, Jack Pumpkinhead and the Sawhorse, both of whom are brought to life with a Powder of Life. It isn't long before he falls in with the Scarecrow (now King of the Emerald City in the absence of the Wizard) and the Tin Woodman (now Emperor of the Winkies after the Wicked Witch was melted).
So far, so good. That is, until several more characters get thrown into the equation. Baum's genius is shown here, in that he does not let several threads of a storyline get so interwoven that readers are confused. The Scarecrow is kicked out of the Emerald City by General Jinjur, a tomboy-ish young lady who is sick of the men telling her what to do. Helping out are many girls and women of Oz. Baum is taking the mickey out of the feminist movement, very prominient in America in the early 1900s when he was writing. (His mother-in-law was a suffragette.) Jinjur succeeds by threatening the Royal Army (all one of them) with knitting needles, after which she gets herself on the throne of Oz and enslaves all the men and steals the jewels and treasure of the Emerald City.
Another interesting theme is that of the Woggle-Bug. He is in stark contrast to the stupidity of Jack Pumpkinhead. Baum makes a point about the folly of the snobbish elitists, embodied in Mr. H.M. Woggle-Bug, T.E. His outrageous puns and his elongated words really make for an amusing character, and the chapters in teh middle of the book are full of witty comments and plays upon words.
But the story lacks the ... vibe of the first. Gone is the childish innocence of the writing style of the first. Of course, Baum's writing style is, at best, overly pompous and cluttered, but many jokes made would simply go over the head of many children. Such as when the Tin Man comments that "a good tart is more preferable to a decayed intellect", and when the Woggle-Bug is talking about how the Saw Horse can be described as an equipage. And the sexism! Possibly most outrageous of all is that in the end, Jinjur's revolution succeeds in a sense, as the Scarecrow never does regain his throne.
Last but not least, the illustrations. Baum and W.W. Denslow had parted ways after "Wizard", and so a young illustrator, John R. Niell had been hired to picture the Land of Oz. He captures the spirit beautifully, and his drawings are far warmer than those of Denslow's, especially those of the Tin Woodman. He brings Oz to life when Baum's stilted writing style prevents this.
Little did Baum know it, but by writing "The Marvellous Land of Oz" he had, in the eyes of his young readers, promised to write more. It wouldn't be until 1907, with the publication of "Ozma of Oz", in which Dorothy returned to Oz, that he would seriously embark on writing a whole series.
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