Kyrie
Scarecrow of Oz is only an “Oz” book by the loosest of definitions. Well, by my definition, anyway. It's much more of a Trot & Cap'n Bill book - those two are the main focus of the story. I mean, for being called “The Scarecrow of Oz”, the Scarecrow doesn't even show up till the final act of the story. But, I guess Baum had to find a way to get around children clamoring for more Oz books somehow.
There are a few new locations added in this book, including an island where something called Pesim was abandoned by its friends for being such a downer. There's also a land where it rains lemonade and snows popcorn. You could feel the whimsy radiating from that entire segment.
The main plot of the story, though, revolves around a secluded section of southern Oz, called Jinxland. They've gone through a bit of a progression of kings - from King Kynd, to King Phearce, to King Krewel. I may have facepalmed every time I had to read one of their names to my daughter.
But there was also this courtier courting King Krewel's niece, Princess Gloria. The courier was named Googly-Goo, which made me laugh so hard. See, we got this weird stuffed toy for my daughter from a parade, and for lack of a better term to describe what it is, I took to calling it “the Googly”.
Trot and Cap'n Bill and company run into a bunch of trouble that the Scarecrow eventually gets them out of, and there's the traditional celebration in the Emerald City. But aside from that, Oz has very little to do with the actual story. I suppose whether or not that's a good thing depends on why you're reading the Oz books.
If you're in it for the descriptions of fun new lands, then you'll probably enjoy this one. But if you're in it to follow up on the characters of previous books...you're going to be disappointed.
Scarecrow of Oz is only an “Oz” book by the loosest of definitions. Well, by my definition, anyway. It's much more of a Trot & Cap'n Bill book - those two are the main focus of the story. I mean, for being called “The Scarecrow of Oz”, the Scarecrow doesn't even show up till the final act of the story. But, I guess Baum had to find a way to get around children clamoring for more Oz books somehow.
There are a few new locations added in this book, including an island where something called Pesim was abandoned by its friends for being such a downer. There's also a land where it rains lemonade and snows popcorn. You could feel the whimsy radiating from that entire segment.
The main plot of the story, though, revolves around a secluded section of southern Oz, called Jinxland. They've gone through a bit of a progression of kings - from King Kynd, to King Phearce, to King Krewel. I may have facepalmed every time I had to read one of their names to my daughter.
But there was also this courtier courting King Krewel's niece, Princess Gloria. The courier was named Googly-Goo, which made me laugh so hard. See, we got this weird stuffed toy for my daughter from a parade, and for lack of a better term to describe what it is, I took to calling it “the Googly”.
Trot and Cap'n Bill and company run into a bunch of trouble that the Scarecrow eventually gets them out of, and there's the traditional celebration in the Emerald City. But aside from that, Oz has very little to do with the actual story. I suppose whether or not that's a good thing depends on why you're reading the Oz books.
If you're in it for the descriptions of fun new lands, then you'll probably enjoy this one. But if you're in it to follow up on the characters of previous books...you're going to be disappointed.