Aunt Jane's Nieces Out West

3.5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews

Summary
Aunt Jane's nieces, still in California with Uncle John, get caught up the burgeoning film industry.

Review
Baum has a little fun in this book. First, he brings in two new – and, of course, charming – young women who have their very own, and still living, Aunt Jane. Second, he works in a reference to himself (though of course the book was sold under the name Edith van Dyne, and the reference is to Frank Baum).

As is often the case in these books, Baum draws on his personal experience – in this case his experience with the nascent Hollywood film industry. It's an interesting perspective from someone with first-hand experience (you can see the 1910 silent version of The Wizard of Oz here, and a host of other Baum pictures came out in 1914, the same year as this book).

Naturally, there's a mysterious stranger who ends up being someone else. In this case, though, Baum leaves the resolution until the last few paragraphs of the story, in a not terribly satisfying deus ex machina.

All in all, though, this is a good, light-hearted return to the norms of the series, thankfully this time without much in the way of outdated morals and language.