Customer Reviews

How the Wizard Came to Oz

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In this prequel to 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' by Baum, Donald Abbott writes the story of how Oscar Zoraster becomes the great and terrible Wizard of Oz. I don't want to reveal everything because I would ruin the book but we find out how the Wicked Witch of the West came into possession of the Winged Monkeys, we learn the origins of the Yellow Brick Road, and the mysterious powers of the magical Silver Shoes. The Wicked Witch of the East also plays a major role in the story. The book is incredible and all though it may contradict some of the Oz stories by Baum it remains pretty faithful and seems to answer a lot of puzzling questions from the official Oz books. You won't be disappointed with Abbott's wonderful illustrations for the book which are followed in the footsteps of W.W. Denslow(original illustrator for 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'). I recommend EVERYONE to read this book*

I couldn't order this book from Amazon because it was out-of-print, but I did order it from BiblioQuest and I got it, eventually. I don't know if it was ever publsihed in Hardcover (I got Paperback), but I enjoyed getting it all the same.
Oscar has been living in a circus (we learn how long), and is tired of doing ventriloquism. So the Ringmaster has him take the job of a balloonist. After that, a storm takes him away from his home and after passing him over a desert, lands him in a yellow country, where he is suddenly proclaimed to be a wizard. A Wicked Witch appears and threatens to destroy him, but his skills trick her into believing that he has defeated her. While ruling over the Winkies in the yellow castle (Scarecrow makes a cameo), the Wicked West Witch talks with (her sister) the Wicked Witch of the East and learns about the Golden Cap, so she goes off to steal it. (Cowardly Lion's cameo). As Oscar is doing service to the Winkies, the Wicked Witch suddenly returns with the Winged Monkeys and Oscar escapes, but she sends them off after him. Thankfully, Glinda knows of the trouble and saves him (I loved Glinda's appearances in this book!). His balloon again lands him in a country, this time green, and again is declared a Wizard. The Emerald City is built, and the Wizard has his own new home, but after an Army of Kalidahs attack, the Emerald City gains a bit more protection. Meanwhile, the Wicked Witch of the East practises the power of her Magic Silver Shoes, in trying to conquer the Emerald City, but her plans get foiled everytime by Glinda. (Nick Chopper the Tin Woodman's cameo, origin of Green Spectacles and Guardian of the Gates). The 2 Wicked Witches of Oz suddenly come up with the ultimate scheme to defeat the Wizard of Oz and conquer the Emerald City, and "OZ" has no idea on how to stop them. But again, Glinda helps him and the Emerald City is saved from the Wicked Witches of Oz. He then hides himself in his Throne Room, and the story ends with 'until one day . . . but that is another story'.
Just like "Looking for a Rainbow: The Story of Dorothy", this book has a few (actually a lot more!) quotes from and a similar scenario to "MGM's the Wizard of Oz" (but none are the 'rainbow' reference). Donald Abbott's pictures in the book do resemble W. W. Desnlow's, but are not entirely the same. They are all in black-and-white, covering a full-page or half-page, with thick lines, and sometimes the Wicked Witch of the East's eyes looks like she's wearing some bad glasses. Also, even though it has many origins (including the Giant spider that the Lion kills later), I'm disapointed that the origin of the Yellow Brick (or actually two of them) is not the same as that from Roger S. Baum's "Dorothy of Oz" book, so unfortunately the Good Witch of the North does NOT appear - although she is mentioned. Also, Oscar does not have anything to do Ozma's disappearance, so Mombi doesn't appear. Those of you who have "the Annotated Wizard of Oz" will know of W. W. Desnlow's 6 Panel drawings for the 1902 'Wizard of Oz" Musical Stage production with the Wicked Witch (of the East) appearing on it. That is what she looks like in this story, slightly different. I belive that 'the Adventures of OZ in Oz' continues in "How the Wizard Saved Oz", again before Dorothy's arrival. I wonder if I'll get that book too . . .

As much as I love the Oz books, it's great to know that even today writers continue to go back to Baum's wonderful world and try to build and expand upon it. That said, this book, "How the Wizard Came to Oz," is a nice enough entry but doesn't feel all that necessary.

The book tells, as the title implies, the story of how Oscar Zoroaster went from being a carnival man in America to the Great and Terrible Wizard of Oz. It tells of his early encounters with the Wicked Witches of both the East and the West, how people in the Emerald City came to wear green spectacles and fills in a lot of other gaps in the first book.

But some of the things Abbott delves into in this book feel kind of superfluous. Cameos by all three of Dorothy's original companions -- the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion and the Tin Woodman -- add nothing to the story and seem to be pure padding. Other things, like a quick joke referring to the classic MGM film, just distract you from Baum's Oz and jerk you out into the real world where you've seen Judy Garland deliver this joke a thousand times in a thousand re-watchings of the movie.

It's a decent book if you're an Ozophile and want to get everything worth getting, but for the casual reader, if you take a pass you'll have nothing to regret.

David Abbott is a writer and illustrator who has worked on several Oz titles, including doing the artwork for the reprint of L. Frank Baum's original story of Dot And Tot In Merryland for which the original illustrations had been lost a century ago. Abbott has created several Oz books on his own of which have been printed by Books Of Wonder including: The Amber Flute Of Oz, Father Goose In Oz, and The Speckled Rose Of Oz. He even decided to do his own prequal to the original Wizard Of Oz, a few years before Gregory Maquire had started his Wicked series. Abbott started what was essentially a two-part prequal with How The Wizard Came To Oz.

The Wizard's secret origins are a little similar to most of what was referred to in Oz books. Oscar Diggs is a circus performer who learns various tricks of the trade, and one day takes the circus' balloon for a joyride, but ends up in Oz. He is confronted by the Wicked Witch of the West who runs the Winkie Country. She summons up her allies: the wolves, the bees, and the crow, but Oscar uses his ventriloquism skills to scare them all off. The Winkies proclaim him to be the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and the Witch heads east to seek help from her sister. The Witch of the East tells her sister of the magical Golden Cap which she can use to control the flying monkeys. The Wicked Witch eventually claims the cap, and forces the monkeys to drive the Wizard out of the west by balloon. After landing in the north of Oz, the Wizard manages to defeat a group of Kalidahs. The grateful citizens then help him begin constuction on the Emerald City, to which the Wizard uses the trick of the green spectacles to make it seem greener than it was. The Witches then join forces to launch attacks on the Emerald City. The East Witch employs the silver shoes' magic to create a yellow brick road straight to the city for her troops, as well as a giant spider(the one the Lion later fights). The Wizard manages to ward them off with more of his circus tricks, and saves the Emerald City...for now.

This book leads into the sequal(but still prequal)How The Wizard Saved Oz. It acts as a pretty good prelude for the Oz legacy, although it seems to skip through alot of the more specific details of the Wizard's early years. There's even some lead in to the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman's origins. Donald Abbott has some slightly impressive illustrations too as he modeled his work after W.W. Denslow. If you want to see a comprehensive and enjoyable view at the Young Oscar Diggs Chronicles, then give this one a look.

This is a story about how the wizard came to Oz. Oscar Zoraster is a ventriloquist and hot air balloon flyer at a circus, but he gets blown to Oz while floating in his balloon. It describes the history of both wicked witches, the yellow brick road, and the Emerald City. Donald Abbbot follows W. W. Denslow's style of illustrations (W. W. Denslow made the pictures for L. Frank Baum's _The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz_). This is a great book if you have read _The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz_. -Joe Hansis