Customer Reviews

The Sea Fairies

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This was a great book! I love the Oz books, and this was just as good, if not better than some. It is about a girl named Trot and her wise old friend Cap'n Bill, a sailor who lost his leg and has lived with Trot's family ever since. They go deep into the ocean to see a beautiful mermaids palace, meet the sweet and lovely mermaids, and explore the ocean. One of Baum's best books, the descriptions are fabulous and humorous. Then the mermaids and their comrades ghet captured by the evil wizard, Zog, and they have to fight to stay alive, outwitting Zog's clever plans. I have always been fascinated with mermaids, and I have never been able to find a great book that really got into the lives of mermaids until now. GET THIS BOOK! END

The Sea Fairies is an important book in the works of L. Frank Baum. It marks his first major fantasy after he tried to give up writing the more famous Oz books. In style and tone it is much like the Oz books, and introduces the characters Trot and Cap'n Bill who Baum later brought into his series of Oz books. The villain, Zog, in The Sea Fairies is one of Baum's most fascinatingly evil characters, and the suspense as Zog tries to Destroy Trot, Cap'n Bill, and their mermaid friends is high. The first half of the book is loaded with an exploration of the fantastic undersea world as only Baum could tell it, full of his wonderful flights of fancy and loaded with puns, as readers of his Oz books are familiar with.

I too was thrilled to discover that the Magical Land of Noom has been republished. I was searching rare book sites hoping to find a copy, and lo and behold discovered the listing at Amazon.com. I've ordered three copies, two as surprise gifts for siblings. I cannot wait to see the illustrations of the Soft-Voiced Cow and other characters again. I will probably purchase another to donate to our public library, as today's children should have the chance to discover this gem.

It's Not Oz

L Frank Baum is perhaps one of the finest children's authors ever to have lived with his WIZARD OF OZ series occupying an honored place in the canon of juvenile literature. He wrote other books as well, though, and THE SEA FAIRIES is one of these. It has no connection at all to the OZ stories in its original issue. Oz fans will recognize, however, the two main characters of Trot and Capt. Bill. This book was their fist literary appearance. Later on, they were integrated into the Oz milieu.

This story, I am sorry to say, is not one of Baum's best efforts. That being said, he sets such a high standard that this one is still pretty good. It is just not as good as his Oz books. The story seems a bit more simplistic but it still shows his love of wordplay and vivid imagination.

The plot is a simple one. Trot and Capt. Bill are taken by mermaids for a visit to their magical, undersea kingdom. They go not as prisoners but as honored guests. While there, they are temporarily given the tails of mer-beings to allow them to get around easier. They tour the realms of the Mermaid Queen and see some of the queer inhabitants of her domain. While on the way to visit her overlord, however, they are abducted by an evil wizard and must devote their energies to staying alive until they are either rescued or find a way to escape.

It is a good and uplifting story. It suffers only in comparison to Oz.

L. Frank Baum (1856-1919) wrote many children's books, and achieved enormous well-deserved praise for his books on Oz and Dorothy. This one contains 22 tales and was written in 1911. Baum tells us that he wrote these tales because his many admirers, who were children, wanted information about the beings that live under the sea. Trot, the hero of the tales is a girl, like Dorothy in the Oz stories. An old sailor taught her to love the sea. The sailor told her that "mermaids is fairies, an' ain't meant to be seen by us mortal folk." He explains that mermaids are the most beautiful creatures in the world. They have "pretty faces that smile an' look mighty sweet an' fetchin'." Trot wants to see them, but the sailor says that if a person sees a mermaid, the person will die. One day when she and the sailor are rowing into a cave in the water, a mermaid appears, and so begins the delightful adventures of Trot.

Sure, SEA FAIRIES is plotless, and SKY ISLAND is much better, but SEA FAIRIES has some strange, thought-provoking characters (besides the first appearance of Trot and Cap'n Bill). Starting with Zog himself, one of the few villians in Baum who is totally, unredeemably evil, and the only one who correctly perceives exactly how evil he is. Satan-like, he mourns his own absurd existance, frowning when happy and smiling sweetly when angry. Equally thought-provoking is his slave Sacho, maybe the most Christ-like character in Baum. I never knew, and still don't, what to make of Anko. Baum's other comedic-but-formidable good-guys like the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger are different because they are vulnerable and troubled; even Quox the Dragon is easier to believe in than Anko, who is one of the mightiest natural forces on the planet and represents good in one of Baum's most epic good-vs-evil battles (the only greater one is in SANTA CLAUS)--and the jokes he unconsciously spouts and riffs on are too lame even for Baum who used some very bad ones! Mistaking Nebuchadnezzar's name for "Nevercouldnever"--someone explain that to me please. It's not even good baby-talk. ** UPDATE: On the other hand, upon rereading I find that some of it is just gut-bustingly funny. For instance:

"Oh, I'm very well, thank you," answered Anko. "I never remember to
have had a pain but three times in my life. The last time was when
Julius Sneezer was on earth."

"You mean Julius Caesar," said Trot, correcting him.

"No, I mean Julius Sneezer," insisted the Sea Serpent. "That was his
real name--Sneezer. They called him Caesar sometimes just because he
took everything he could lay hands on. I ought to know, because I
saw him when he was alive. Did you see him when he was alive, Cap'n
Bill?"

Here's a question: does this edition include the incredibly beautiful color plates from the early editions? If yes, do they have the metallic border-pictures? These plates are some of Jno. R. Neill's very best work, fully as beautiful as the original color plates in THE EMERALD CITY OF OZ with the green metallic ink, and the wonderful water-colors in DOROTHY AND THE WIZARD.

This is the first of two books (the other is Sky Island) recounting the adventures in "fairy countries" of Marye "Trot" Griffiths and her dear friend, the one-legged sailorman known as Cap'n Bill, who live with Trot's mother in a cottage on the California seacoast while her father is off sailing the seas. One day Trot expresses the wish to see a mermaid, but Cap'n Bill insists that "nobody ever [did it] and lived to tell the tale," because "mermaids is fairies, and ain't meant to be seen by us mortal folk." The mermaids, who overhear, have other ideas, and invite the pair to visit them under the sea, even giving them half-fish forms and the ability to breathe underwater.

The mermaids' society is fascinating, as even Cap'n Bill admits, but the ocean holds other creatures less benevolent; while sea serpents are "bashful and shy...[and] kind-hearted," the "terrible deep-sea devilfish," which have almost as much power as the mermaids, "are evil spirits who delight in injuring all who meet them" and are in league with the wicked sorcerer Zog.

The story is a bit slow getting started, as the two humans explore the mermaid realm and learn something of life in this very damp fairy country; but just about halfway through they are captured, along with two of their mermaid hostesses, by Zog's devilfish and taken to his castle. Zog is a vengeful villain who "was created part man, part bird, part fish, part beast and part reptile, and such a monstrosity could not be otherwise than wicked;" he's lived a long and weary 27,000 years and hates everything and everyone around him--especially the mermaids, who are immortal too but seem to enjoy it. Only one living thing has the power to destroy him--Anko, the sea serpent King of the Pacific. But as his prisoners, how are Trot and her friends to summon Anko to help them?

Baum's imagination is in high gear here as it is in the better-known Oz books, and though not always exciting, the story is interesting and enjoyable. All 78 of the original illustrations by John R. Neill are included.

This book was written establishing relationships between a curious girl and a family friend. They set off on a day trip that becomes a journey of good and evil. There are surprises of all types. New friends are made throughout the ocean and some lost contacts are found. I do recommend this book. I do see an element of the Wizard of the underwater OZ.

This book is a real let down after reading all the Oz Books. It doesn't have anywhere near the sparkle and pop of Baum's other series and seems much more like a list of what-could-be sightings than a worthwhile story. That's truly a shame because I was hoping to "keep the magic alive" (as it were) for my young children after finishing all the Oz books.

The story line is simple - Trot and Cap'n Bill (both migrated to Oz after a few more books) are temporarily transformed into a mermaid & merman for undersea adventures. They get captured by an evil wizard and eventually freed. The drawback is that the sea offers less of a chance for Oz's remarkable imagination since he has to work with observable items and make them seem fantastical. He just doesn't have as much room to work with as he does in Oz, which offers boundless opportunities for his near-endless imagination.

Maybe a Baum completist would enjoy this more, but it wasn't for me.

A sweet story for a younger reader.

A young girl named Trot and her friend Cap'n Bill are invited to visit the mermaid palace at the bottom of the sea. The two friends explore the mermaids' world and have light-hearted adventures with their new aquatic friends.