(Read from The Complete Stories of Oz)
Started: January 2, 2022
Finished: January 14, 2022
(This review is written using my new format for book reviews.)
Background Information
This isn't really a proper Oz book. It's a collection of 6 short stories that take place in the Land of Oz. According to Wikipedia, L. Frank Baum wrote these stories as a way to gin up renewed interest in his Oz series when he relaunched the series.
You see, L. Frank Baum originally tried to end the Oz series with The Emerald City of Oz in 1910. But then he went bankrupt in 1911, and needed the money. So, he came back to the Oz series in 1913 with The Patchwork Girl of Oz. And alongside The Patchwork Girl of Oz, in order to remind the public that Oz still existed, and also apparently to hook in younger readers as well, he published 6 short stories in 1913, which were originally sold for 15 cents each in little booklets, and then in 1914 collected in one volume and released as Little Wizard Stories of Oz.
Even though this is by the original author L. Frank Baum, this isn't considered one of the canonical Oz books (i.e. the so-called "famous forty"), but it was included in The Complete Stories of Oz--located right after The Patchwork Girl of Oz--so, being a completist, I thought I'd include it in my list of reviews. Even though it's not really a proper book. In The Complete Stories of Oz, it's only 24 pages. Although, in its original printing, with all the full color pictures and nice big print, it stretched out to 192 pages. Project Gutenberg has a nice copy where you can see all the pictures HERE.
Plot Summary
There are six short stories in this collection:
* The Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger
* Little Dorothy and Toto
* Tiktok and the Nome King
* Ozma and the Little Wizard
* Jack Pumpkinhead and the Sawhorse
* The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman
Each story is only about 4 or 5 pages long. (Although again, the original printing stretched these stories out over several more pages).
Links
Mari Ness's Oz Re-read series at Tor.com is usually my go to for insights and analysis, but Mari Ness seems to have sat this particular book out. (Like I said, it's not really canonical.)
Dane Cobain, however, gave it a brief review on his website. I hope Dane will forgive me for quoting his review in full, but I thought this was a good summation of how I feel about the book as well:
The latest in the series of Oz buddy reads that I’ve been doing with the one and only Joel Swagman on YouTube.In this book, we have a half dozen short stories that are ostensibly aimed at younger readers, although I personally didn’t notice much different from the main Oz books in terms of the storytelling or the writing style. The only difference was that they were a lot shorter.I don’t think there was anything here that particularly blew my mind or made me look at Oz in a different way, but that wasn’t really what it set out to do. And for what it was, I thought it was a cheerful read that kids and adults can enjoy.
I've linked to the Wikipedia article above, but I'll link to it again here, since it's informative.
The Reading Experience
I don't really have a lot to add to what Dane already said. I think Dane pretty much hit the nail on the head.
I'm with Dane that I don't notice much of a difference in writing style, even though supposedly this book was aimed at younger readers.
The stories mostly work. They're all only 4 or 5 pages, but they don't feel rushed--they feel just the length that they are supposed to be.
The Oz books are very episodic anyway--the characters go along the road, they encounter an adventure, then they move a bit further down the road and encounter the next adventure. So in that respect, this collection of little short adventures feels right at home in the Oz world.
Extended Quotation
Once upon a time there lived in the beautiful Emerald City, which lies in the center of the fairy Land of Oz, a lovely girl called Princess Ozma, who was ruler of all that country. And among those who served this girlish Ruler and lived in a cozy suite of rooms in her splendid palace, was a little, withered old man known as the Wizard of Oz.
This little Wizard could do a good many queer things in magic; but he was a kind man, with merry, twinkling eyes and a sweet smile; so, instead of fearing him because of his magic, everybody loved him.
Now, Ozma was very anxious that all her people who inhabited the pleasant Land of Oz should be happy and contented, and therefore she decided one morning to make a journey to all parts of the country, that she might discover if anything was amiss, or anyone discontented, or if there was any wrong that ought to be righted. She asked the little Wizard to accompany her and he was glad to go.
"Shall I take my bag of magic tools with me?" he asked.
"Of course," said Ozma. "We may need a lot of magic before we return, for we are going into strange corners of the land, where we may meet with unknown creatures and dangerous adventures."
So the Wizard took his bag of magic tools and the two left the Emerald City and wandered over the country for many days, at last reaching a place far up in the mountains which neither of them had ever visited before. Stopping one morning at a cottage, built beside the rocky path which led into a pretty valley beyond, Ozma asked a man:
"Are you happy? Have you any complaint to make of your lot?"
And the man replied:
"We are happy except for three mischievous Imps that live in yonder valley and often come here to annoy us. If your Highness would only drive away those Imps, I and my family would be very happy and very grateful to you."
"Who are these bad Imps?" inquired the girl Ruler.
"One is named Olite, and one Udent and one Ertinent, and they have no respect for anyone or anything. If strangers pass through the valley the Imps jeer at them and make horrid faces and call names, and often they push travelers out of the path or throw stones at them. Whenever Imp Olite or Imp Udent or Imp Ertinent comes here to bother us, I and my family run into the house and lock all the doors and windows, and we dare not venture out again until the Imps have gone away."
Princess Ozma was grieved to hear this report and the little Wizard shook his head gravely and said the naughty Imps deserved to be punished. They told the good man they would see what could be done to protect him and at once entered the valley to seek the dwelling place of the three mischievous creatures.
Before long they came upon three caves, hollowed from the rocks, and in front of each cave squatted a queer little dwarf. Ozma and the Wizard paused to examine them and found them well-shaped, strong and lively. They had big round ears, flat noses and wide grinning mouths, and their jet-black hair came to points on top of their heads, much resembling horns. Their clothing fitted snugly to their bodies and limbs and the Imps were so small in size that at first Ozma did not consider them at all dangerous. But one of them suddenly reached out a hand and caught the dress of the Princess, jerking it so sharply that she nearly fell down, and a moment later another Imp pushed the little Wizard so hard that he bumped against Ozma and both unexpectedly sat down upon the ground.
******END QUOTE**** This is the opening lines of Ozma and the Little Wizard. The pictures are from Project Gutenberg's version. I think this is representative of the reading experience--every couple paragraphs, there's a big full-color picture. (Well, actually this wasn't representative of my reading experience, because I read it out of The Complete Stories of Oz, which removed all the pictures. But if you actually buy the original book, this would be the experience.)
Odds and Ends
* Continuity Error: The Nome King lost his memory in The Emerald City of Oz , but this development is completely ignored in Tiktok and the Nome King.
And there were a couple other little things that I thought might have been inconsistent with previous books, but, I don't know, is it even worth it to bring up continuity errors at this point in the series? I mean, at this point, it's just obvious that L. Frank Baum took a very relaxed attitude to consistency across his series. Maybe just leave it at that? (I wonder if this was unique to L. Frank Baum, or if this is indicative of what fantasy was like 100 years ago. Maybe the obsession with continuity and internal consistency in fantasy series is a recent phenomenon? I wonder...)
Plus, it's not clear this book is supposed to be in continuity anyway. (As I mentioned above, it's not part of the famous forty). And even if it is in continuity, it's not clear when it's supposed to take place.
* The title of this collection is strange, isn't it? Little Wizard Stories of Oz. What does that even mean? Apparently "Little Wizard" is now the name for the "Wizard of Oz", who pops up a few different times in this collection, and is always referred to as "the little Wizard". Also, the little Wizard now has omnipotent magical powers that allow him to do pretty much anything. (This was already kind of evident in the past 2 - books, but it seems to be taken to another level here.) I don't think this is a good character development--there's already too many characters in the Land of Oz with omnipotent magical power--but we'll see how it's used in the following books I guess. We'll also have to see if the name "the little Wizard" sticks.
I don't know. How do you rate a short little book like this? It was alright, I guess. It worked well for what it was. 5 out of 10 stars, I guess.
* January 9, 2022 p.749-750
* January 16, 2022 p.750-773
Video Review (Playlist HERE)
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