Customer Reviews

The Marvelous Land of Oz (Dover Children's Classics)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am most familiar with the fantasy world of Oz through the classic musical film starring Judy Garland. "The Marvelous Land of Oz," by L. Frank Baum, could be read as a sequel to the film. Three of the film's most important characters -- the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and good witch Glinda -- are important characters in this book (although Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion do not appear).

Baum creates a marvelous cast of new characters to interact with the three familiar ones mentioned above. Central to this story is Tip, a young boy whose unhappy life with a mean witch will probably remind some readers of Harry Potter's less-than-ideal home life with the Dursleys. Tip's escape from the clutches of the witch Mombi is the start of a fantastic adventure that leads him to the fabulous Emerald City, to an encounter with an all-female army led by a bold conqueress, and to relationships with the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and a host of equally fantastic beings.

The new characters are really great, but probably my favorite is Jack Pumpkinhead, an artificially-constructed, pumpkin-headed being brought to life by magic. Jack has a childlike innocence that I found quite endearing. Also memorable is the ornery but courageous Saw-Horse, another magical being.

There is a curious undercurrent of subversive gender politics to the book; although the main party of adventurers are male, the most powerful characters in the book are ultimately its female characters (both heroic and villainous). And one jaw-dropping plot twist (which I will not ruin by revealing!) furthers this theme.

This book is quite simply a wonderfully delightful story, well-told by Baum and superbly complemented by John R. Neill's whimsical illustrations. And despite the fact that it's a fantasy, I felt that the book has some relevant real world themes, most notably the ideas of respecting diversity and valuing "unusual" folks. And the friendship between the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman is especially heartwarming. "The Marvelous Land of Oz" is a great classic for both adults and young people.

Baum wrote a dozen or so Oz books in the early 1900s. The movie was made from the first in the series. "The [Marvelous] Land of OZ" is the 2nd in the series, and possibly the best.

The short chapter from page 71-81 reaches a level of perfection attained only rarely in the history of literature, and is certainly equal to even the best passages of Mark Twain or James Thurber. I can't read that passage out loud to my kids without going into a fit of laughing myself to tears. I wish I could reprint it here.

You must try if you can to obtain the wonderful hardcover (or sometimes called 'library binding') edition that goes by the ISBN number of 0688054390. It is an amazingly faithful facsimile of the original 1904 edition complete with its beautiful color-illustrated endpapers and dozens of color plates and black and white illustrations so charmingly integrated with the text.

I snapped up a dozen and gave them away as birthday gifts for kids age 7 and up. I don't know if there are any left in print, and it's a good bet these will go up in value. Fine first edition OZ books command a pretty penny.

The title of my book is "The Marvelous Land of Oz." It is by
L. Frank Baum, who is well known for writing the Oz books. I think that anyone, who is six years old, or older, would like the book. Even people who are 100 years old would laugh out loud at this hilarious book.

The story takes place in Oz, a magical land that has strange and funny people. This book is a sequel to "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." Many of the characters and parts of the story are very funny.

The Emerald City of Oz is a beautiful place until General Jinjur invades it with her army. The scarecrow, who is the king of Oz, and his friends, try to regain the throne only to find that there is another real heir to the throne!

Tip is the book's main character. While many of the characters are very unusual, Tip looks like a human and is from the country of Gillikins. He gets in bad trouble with Mombi, who is evil and he runs away to the Emerald City. He becomes friends with the Scarecrow and tries to help him return as king.

The genre is adventure. Here is an example:
Tip thought this strange army bore no weapons whatsoever, but in this he was wrong. For each girl had stuck through the knot of her hair two long glittering knitting needles.

I give this book 5 stars because it was so good I could not put it down, and I read all 119 pages in only two days.

Books were exactly as described and came quickly. Would certainly buy from this seller again!

Although in convenient paperbacks, these are replicas of the originals. That is, they include the original illustrations and, I believe, use the same printed fonts. Each book has its own font and pictures. These are charming for children and for adults, and are musts if you intend to read or have read the Gregory Maguire Wicked trilogy.

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!

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 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...

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!

"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.