Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Whee! But There's A Gaudy Dame!, January 31, 2003
This review is from: The Patchwork Girl of Oz (Books of Wonder) (Hardcover)
Recognizing the increasing danger from lands beyond, at the end of 1910's The Emerald City Of Oz, child ruler Ozma and sorceress Glinda decided to magically close Oz off from the outside world forever. In reality, Baum was tired of Oz and wanted to develop other ideas and projects. But hounded by young fans to provide more stories of the utopist fairyland, in 1913 Baum again took up his pen as Royal Historian. Explaining to readers that he had begun receiving new tales from the Shaggy Man via a wireless telegraph in Oz, the fruit of this partnership was The Patchwork Girl Of Oz, probably the general favorite of Baum's novels among dedicated Oz enthusiasts. In fact, the Patchwork Girl Of Oz is the book appreciated even by those who dislike the Oz series as a whole. In poetry - spouting Scraps the Patchwork Girl, Baum introduced a vibrant, riveting figure to his fairyland, one equal to earlier classic creations the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, Jack Pumpkinhead, the Wooglebug, and the Gnome King. Rowdy, grotesque Scraps was perhaps Baum's last great character; indefatigable and indomitable, Scraps was also Baum's most original and fully realized female character, whether human, fairy, sorceress, or otherwise. A winning combination of common sense and nonsense, Scraps, a kind of nightmare version of Raggedy Ann, is pleasantly naive, utterly free, tactless, curious, and enthusiastic about all facets of life, including romance. Though stuffed with cotton, Scraps finds the straw - packed Scarecrow a perfect dreamboat, and finds twig - bodied Jack Pumpkinhead attractive as well. John R. Neill's illustrations of the Scraps and the Scarecrow's ' hearts aflutter ' first meeting is hilarious. A reconfiguration of the happy peasant figure who blissfully notices that the emperor is naked and doesn't hesitate to say so, Scraps, though not an outright trickster figure, approaches trickster status. The Patchwork Girl Of Oz is Baum's most fluid, well rounded, and detailed children's novel. Unlike some of the other titles in the series that have a predominantly sketchy narrative, the Patchwork Girl Of Oz is composed of enthusiastic, rollicking prose that allows the reader to happily suspend disbelief. All Oz titles have filler chapters that pad the books and add little to their forward motion, and the Patchwork Girl Of Oz has its share. However, the filler chapters here -- 'The Troublesome Phonograph' and 'The Foolish Owl and the Wise Donkey' -- don't irritate or distract from the story's forward motion as much as they might. Far from being finished with Oz, in 1913 Baum was still working out the magical laws that would govern his fairyland kingdom; readers will note that those laws applied here differ somewhat from those provided in 1918's The Tin Woodman Of Oz. Most noticeably, young Ojo the Unlucky is described as a growing boy; in the later books, all characters would be permanently fixed in their ages and physical growth or decline would become impossible. The Patchwork Girl Of Oz is almost free of the occasionally unsettling, cruel, or bizarre elements that Baum unconsciously allowed to mar his books; there is a brief explanation of how "meat" beings, if chopped into pieces, would continue to live, if not thrive, in their newly minced state. Unlike some of the other books in the series, the natural world in the Patchwork Girl Of Oz is lushly underscored and doesn't seem to be a brittle facsimile of the natural world known to readers. There is a loving description of Jack Pumpkinhead's pumpkin patch home, of the Munchkin gardens of "blue flowers, blue cabbages, blue carrots, and blue lettuce," and a defense of country living by the itinerant Shaggy Man. A classic of children's literature, the Patchwork Girl Of Oz is Baum's best, and a far better book than its more famous antecedent, the Wonderful Wizard Of Oz. Highly recommended.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must read for fans of fantasy, December 24, 2003
This review is from: The Patchwork Girl of Oz (Books of Wonder) (Hardcover)
The title of the book actually misleads the reader somewhat. Yes this book does describe the origins of Scraps, the patchwork girl, who goes on to become a regular fixture in future Oz stories. However she is, in fact, a secondary character in the story. The main character is Ojo "the unlucky," a Munchkin boy who embarks on a quest to save his beloved uncle who has been accidentally turned into a marble statue. This book offers the usual assortment of pleasantly odd characters, strange magical happenings and dramtic tension that go into all of the good Oz novels. What makes "Patchwork Girl..." stand out is its reltively mature subplot of the importance of rules. Ozma has made it illegal for most people to use magic. The crooked magician ignores this rule, and as an indirect result two innocent people are turned into marble. One of the items Ojo must get for his quest is illegal to gather. He doesn't want to break the law, but restoring his uncle is the most important thing to him, so he justifies it to himself. Then, the reader is introduced to the humane way Oz deals with people who break the rules. This theme will speak volumes to any child who has chaffed under the rules of an adult, but secretly acknowledged that the adult had his or her best interests at heart. Several reviewers have commented that the end of the book is a cop out, and yes it might be disappointing if you were expecting a big, dramatic magical event. In truth, however, it is a masterful conclusion to the rules subplot. The conclusion underscores that rules are made to be kept, and that breaking them and then trying to sneakily get around them only causes problems. If one admits to breaking the rules, as the crooked magician should have done, and then tries to correct the mistake, it often avoids a great deal of trouble and ultimately works out better. Overall, this book is a great read for young and old alike.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A return to form for Baum, November 5, 2003
While the last three books in L. Frank Baum's "Oz" series ("Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz", "The Road to Oz" and "The Emerald City of Oz") were all rather lackluster, this book was a return to form. The problem with the other installments was a lack of a new story -- they were all about people who went to Oz, met lots of strange and interesting people, and had a happy ending. "The Patchwork Girl of Oz," however, had a very good story to bolster the old Oz formula. Ojo the Unlucky, a young Munchkin lad, along with the Glass Cat and Scraps, the Patchwork Girl, set out to find magical ingredients needed to restore his uncle and a magician's wife to life after they are accidentally petrified. So the story is, again, about someone wandering Oz and meeting strange and interesting people, but giving Ojo a quest gave the book a different angle, a sense of urgency -- this was a boy on a mission to save two lives. The ending is somewhat abrupt, although quite in-character for Baum's creations, but overall it is one of the better Oz books, a real return to form after a few that just didn't click.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
