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Tik-Tok of Oz

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Growing up, reading the Oz books, I found "Tik-Tok of Oz" to be one of my favorites. Rediscovering them now, as an adult, I find it still delights me more than most.

The plot, I must admit, is quite reminiscent of "Ozma of Oz" -- a girl and a mortal animal wash up on the shores of some fairyland, encounter the man Tik-Tok and find themselves trapped in a battle with the king of the Nomes. It has been said,in fact, that the plot of this novel came when Baum converted "Ozma" into a stage play, then converted the stage play back into a novel.

However, the book itself is still quite delightful. We don't meet too many really interesting new characters in this book -- not as many as most Oz books, in fact -- but it no longer follows the tired "someone tries to get to the Emerald City and meets interesting creatures along the way" formula that began in the very first book and crippled several books after "Ozma."

Tititi-Hoochoo and Quox the Dragon stand out as the new characters, and it is the sequences featuring them that I find most entertaining. Kaliko and Ruggedo in the Nome Kingdom again draw a grin from me, and the final few pages have a laugh-out loud moment that must have come when someone pointed out an inconsistency in the Oz books that Baum had to suddenly explain away.

"Tik-Tok of Oz" may not be the best of the Oz books, but it's probably the funniest, and it's certainly one of my favorites.

Tik-Tok of Oz by L. Frank Baum (Books of Wonder edition)

Tik-Tok of Oz is a delightful book with an interesting story of how it came to be. A small Editor's Note by Peter Glassman on page 10 of this book tells the story. There had been two successful stage plays based on the first two Oz books and Baum wanted to write a play based on the third, Ozma of Oz. However, he found out he couldn't use many of the characters because he had already sold the stage rights to them. He took the plot of the third book and changed Dorothy and Ozma into two new characters Betsy Bobbin and Queen Ann Soforth. Then he used the popular Shaggy Man who was introduced in The Road to Oz and changed many of the incidents in the story to create a new script for the stage that he called The Tik-Tok Man of Oz. The play was a success so he then rewrote it into this novel.

If you have read Ozma of Oz, you will indeed see the similarities. Once again an army of one soldier and many officers is led by a girl leader in an attack against the Nome King. This time it is Queen Ann Soforth from the smallest and poorest kingdom in Oz. She is young and tired of her tiny kingdom and wants to seek adventure. When her sister jokingly suggests that Ann raise an army and conquer Oz, Ann likes the idea. She convinces all but one of the eighteen men of her kingdom to join her army and they set out. However, the sorceress Glinda, learns of her plans and magically transports Ann and her army across the Deadly Desert and out of Oz entirely.

Meanwhile Betsy Bobbin, like Dorothy in Ozma of Oz, is lost at sea in a storm with her companion Hank the Mule. They are cast up on shore of the Rose Kingdom where they meet up with the Rose Princess, the Shaggy Man and Polychrome, the Rainbow's daughter. This group goes on a quest with the Shaggy Man who is seeking his lost brother, a prisoner of the Nome King. They meet up with Queen Ann's army and Tik-Tok. This large group decides to go in search of the Nome King together.

Their quest leads them to the fairy kingdom of the great Jinjin, Tititi-Hoochoo where they meet a young dragon named Quox. Their encounter with the Nome King is terribly amusing and their search for the Shaggy Man's brother has a remarkable outcome.

What starts out as a reworking of another story takes on a life of its own to become an entertaining and amusing story. The John R. Neill illustrations are wonderful and there are 12 full-page color plates. The end papers present the first published map of the land of Oz.

I read Tik-Tok of Oz, and I thoght it was a wonderful tale. It begins when Ann Soforth, queen of Oogaboo decides to conquer Oz. When she sets out with her army towards the Emerald City, Glinda finds out immeadiately about it in her book of records. She then changes the army's road direction, over the deadly desert over to the Nome King's Dominions. Meanwhile, a girl named Betsy Bobbin and her mule Hank are shipwrecked on the shores of the Rose Kingdom after their ship sinks. They go to a nearby greenhouse, where a bunch of female roses cast them out. Then who should come crashing through the roof than the Shaggy Man. He and Betsy pick a rose princess, and proclaim her the new ruler of the Rose Kingdom. However, the roses don't wan't the rose girl, whose name is Ozga, as their ruler, so he to is cast out of the Rose Kingdom. They then travel over a bridge to the Nome Kings Dominions, where they find Tik-Tok crashed in a well. Then Queen Ann's Army comes along and tries to capture the party. The private then resigns, and Tik-Tok takes his place. Then the two parties band together, and go to conquer the Nome King, because they have to rescue Shaggy Man's brother from Ruggedo, the King of Nomes. Then................................, well I'll leave you to read th book and fin out what happens. Anyways, this book is he greatest, and should be greatly praised.

When L. Frank Baum set out to write and produce a second Oz musical for the stage, he discovered he had signed away the theatrical rights to his early Oz stories and characters. Apparently unwilling to create new material, Baum drafted a play that he called Tik - Tok Of Oz, which was simply a retelling of his third Oz novel, 1907's Ozma Of Oz, with some character names changed and minor plot elements rearranged. Since he owed publishers Reilly & Britton a new Oz book, Baum then rewrote his new play into a novel, and 1914's redundant Tik - Tok Of Oz was born.

With such a circuitous pedigree, it's no wonder that Tik - Tok Of Oz is a generally unimpressive entry into the Oz chronicle. Baum was occasionally careless with his prestigious fairyland, and nothing suggests that here more than the fact that wind - up mechanical man Tik - Tok, though his name lights up the book's title, is only a secondary character in the narrative and often appears to be absent from much of the story, even when present in theory. In fact, the Tin Woodman or Jack Pumpkinhead could have replaced the clockwork man without altering the essential plot in the least. But the uncomplicated Tik - Tok was particularly useful in a lazily composed narrative, since, as a preprogrammed machine of limited potential in need of continuous winding, Baum could silence him at any time by simply having him run down, no dramatic action or mental fatigue required. Despite several warm and imaginatively written chapters, such as `The Lovely Lady Of Light,' the book plods on without building in strength or imagination until its final section, when it suddenly awakens to life.

Dorothy Gale doppelganger Betsy Bobbin, accompanied by sidekick Hank the Mule, reaches the shores of fairyland when a ship on which she is inexplicably a passenger explodes at sea. Baum's ho - hum attitude towards his material is immediately evident when introducing Betsy, who does indeed do some "bobbing" up and down on the waves and billows: "Suddenly the sea was lighted up by a vivid glare. The ship, now in the far distance, caught fire, blew up and sank beneath the waves." No mention is made of the fate of the other passengers or of Betsy's guardians. Meanwhile, in the tiny northern Winkie kingdom of Oogaboo, irritable queen Ann Soforth ('And so forth') has decided to conquer all of Oz through the use of her army, which consists of four Colonels, four Captains, four Generals, four Majors and one soldier. The third plot thread finds the Shaggy Man tramping across Oz in search of his missing brother, who he believes has been captured by the Nome King. Ozma, concerned about the Shaggy Man's progress, sends Tik - Tok to assist him, though he promptly gets thrown down a well.

Potentially interesting new character Princess Ozga, a beautiful vegetable woman grown from a rose bush, remains underdeveloped and underutilized, while the apparently always - on - standby Polychrome strays from the rainbow yet again, and acts, here as elsewhere, as a convenient deus ex machina whenever Baum writes himself into a tight corner. To his credit, Baum allows Polychrome a little more common sense and perception than she reveals in other titles. Arch Oz villain Ruggedo, whose original name was Roquat before he drank from the `Waters of Oblivion,' is alternately called the Metal Monarch or the Nome (Gnome) King, while on the other side of the planet readers are introduced to the "Famous Fellowship of Fairies," which is overseen by the Jinjin, who is also known as the Private Citizen and as Tititi - Hoochoo, a name which must have delighted grade school boys and irked educators for decades. Readers never learn the true name of Shaggy Man's brother, but, when he is not referred to as such, is simply called the Ugly One due to a punishing enchantment Ruggedo has cast upon him. Like the Little Wizard and Dorothy and Captain Bill and Trot, the Shaggy Man and Betsy eventually form a partnership: elderly man - little girl relationships lacking blood ties are common in the Oz chronicle.

A good indicator of a weak Baum title is an absence of imaginative description, as readers will find here. Baum's Nome Kingdom might have been wondrously described, as E. T. A. Hoffman detailed his own underground fairyland in 'The Mines of Falun.' Hoffman's underground caves, mines, and tunnels emit a claustrophobia readers can feel, a strange otherworldly magic that is both threatening and powerfully seductive. Once Baum establishes that his characters are underground, except for a brief scene in a metal forest, readers are left to visualize the rocky, gem - rich nome world as best they can, or rely wholly on John R. Neill's humorous illustrations.

In an apparent mistake on Baum's part, sorceress Glinda the Good's castle on the far boundary of the southern kingdom of the Quadlings is said to "stand far north of the Emerald City where Ozma holds her court," despite the two comprehensive maps which open and close the book and demonstrate that the castle rightly stands in the red southern kingdom of the Quadlings where it should.

Oz newcomers beware: Tik - Tok Of Oz reads much like the uninspired retread it is; like the clockwork man himself, the book is sorely in need of additional winding under its left arm. Baum should have saved the few good ideas he introduced here for his next entirely new manuscript. This is one of the few Baum - authored books in the Oz series which readers may decide to put aside before finishing.

A few months before the publication and huge success of The Patchwork Girl of Oz, L. Frank Baum loosely adapted his Ozma of Oz and The Road To Oz novels into a stage play titled The Tik-Tok Man of Oz. When the time came for an eight installment for the Oz stories, Baum adapted the play into what would become 1914's Tik-Tok of Oz. In the brief preface, he once again thanks his readers for enjoying his stories and informs them that Dorothy's come through with yet another tale via "the wireless".

The story begins in Oogaboo, a small valley in the far corner of Oz ruled by Queen Ann Soforth. Dissatisified with her tiny monarchy made of "eighteen men, twenty-seven women and forty-four children" and jealous of Princess Ozma's vast kingdom, Ann gathers together an army of seventeen men to conquer the Emerald City. However the Good Witch Glinda is already aware of their plans thanks to her magic Record Book and uses her powers to guide the measly "army" in the opposite direction.

Meanwhile Oklahoma girl Betsy Bobbin is shipwrecked with her mule Hank and the two find themselves in the Rose Kingdom, home to snobby, self-centered roses of various colors. The Royal Gardener, the only human allowed in the domain, is ordered to execute Betsy and Hank when the Shaggy Man falls through the roof of the greenhouse and uses his trusty Love Magnet to save them. Unfortunately it doesn't work on the heartless roses and Betsy plucks the Rose Princess Ozga before they're thrown out. Shaggy explains to his new friends that he's on a journey to find his brother who's gone missing since digging underground. Seeing as the Nome King hates it when humans come anywhere near his home, it's surmised that he's kidnapped him. Along the way they meet Polychrome (the Rainbow's daughter who's slid off her father's bow once again), rescue Tik-Tok from a well the Nome King tossed him in, and join forces with Queen Ann and her army.

The terrible Metal Monarch knows of their quest and tries to stop them. They're soon cast into the Hollow Tube where they find themselves on the other side of the world. Tititi-Hoochoo the Great Jinjin aka the Private Citizen is angered by the King's actions and sends the travelers back the other way via the back of a dragon named Quox for a face-off with the Nome and his cronies.

Does the plot sound familiar? It should since it's a copy of Ozma of Oz and a poor one at that. My biggest beef with this installment is how underdeveloped the new characters are. Queen Ann starts off as a slightly bratty girl with the unrealistic ambition of overthrowing Ozma, but quickly becomes an utter annoyance I cared little for. Little Betsy's sweet enough, but she's a total knock-off of Dorothy and Hank is useless. I almost forgot Ozga was even a part of the story, she was barely there and the same goes for Tik-Tok. Although his name is in the title, he's sorely underused.

Then there are the continuity issues. Polychrome and the Shaggy Man had already met and traveled together to the Emerald City in The Road to Oz, but they're complete strangers to each other here. In that same novel it's said that one only needs the Love Magnet on their person for it to work, but in Tik-Tok it has to be physically shown or its power is useless. Minor issues maybe, but they're unnecessary and avoidable.

On the positive side, Baum's knack for holding the reader's attention is still there. Even when I found myself rolling my eyes at the obvious rip-offs of past (and better) Oz stories, I was never bored. John R. Neill is back with his colorfully alluring illustrations and includes a beautifully detailed map of Oz and its neighboring countries in the book's endpapers.

Apparently Baum's fans were also unpleased by Tik-Tok of Oz at the time of its release since it sold 3,000 copies fewer than its predecessor The Patchwork Girl of Oz. Fortunately The Royal Historian of Oz would get his groove back with The Scarecrow of Oz.

In the Land of Oz, where animals talk and logic is delightfully warped and fairies mingle with mortals and clockwork men, Betsy Bobbin and her mule Hank are shipwrecked. Along with Queen Ann's army, Polychrome, the Shaggy Man, Ozga (the Rose Princess), and Tik Tok, Betsy and Hank find themselves on a rescue mission for Shaggy's brother imprisoned by the selfish Nome King. Filled with Baum's signature Romanticism and clever logic, it's a lovely (though not particularly unique or as distinct) addition to the Oz series. The Marvelous Land of Oz and The Tin Woodman of Oz are still the strongest in the series. Grade: B

I teach creative writing to children and have used this book as an excellent model for the fantasy genre. It has all the great elements of a fantasy story--strange and enchanted happenings, magical creatures, faeries, and a wonderful quest. Many of Baum's books are not so plot-driven; this, like "The Patchwork Girl of Oz" is an exception, and the story works marvelously. Fans of the Oz series will know that this book is a re-telling of "Ozma of Oz," but there are enough new characters, settings, and details to make it a fresh and rewarding tale. Certainly, old favorites such as Tik-Tok, the Nome King, Polychrome, and the Shaggy Man are at their best in this tale (one of the most delightful scenes is when Shaggy "breaks the law"), while new additions Private Files and Quox the Dragon bring much humor and whimsy. Young children will certainly enjoy the test of the three maidens towards the end of the book. This books has a very cohesive direction (not always the case with Baum) and I especially enjoyed how each chapter title is alliterative (I suppose that's the English Lit in me!). And, as usual, the John R. Neil's illustrations are wonderful; my favorite illustration is that of the greedy Nome King strutting out of his kingdom, his countless pockets filled with jewels.

Tik-Tok of Oz is one of the best books in the Wizard of Oz series! It introduces many characters, such as Betsy Bobbin, Hank the Mule, and Queen Ann of Oogaboo. (I won't name then all.) Shaggy Man is in search of his brother who is imprisoned by the evil Nome King. The most exciting part of the book is when they visit the Nome King. The things that happen are really funny and very interesting. And, at the end, you'll get to see Ozma, Dorothy, and the Wizard.

You should buy this book!

L. Frank Baum introduces this book -- the eighth in the Oz series -- by explaining that he's been consulting with our beloved Dorothy over the "wireless." Well, this was a "wireless" of a century ago, 1914 to be exact, but that doesn't in any way lessen the appeal of Baum's imaginative tales.

Here, he brings back Tik-Tok, the tubby little Clockwork Man, as well as the Shaggy Man. They're part of the force for good in this book, for it seems a little evil has sprung up in a far corner of Oz. Queen Ann of Oogaboo is quite bored with her tiny kingdom and fancies she could perhaps conquer the Land of Oz and rule in the place of its fair Princess Ozma. So off Ann goes with her small army.

A young girl named Betsy, meanwhile, gets shipwrecked with her mule, Hank, effectively getting mixed into these adventures and, of course, finding her way to Oz. Baum alliterates every chapter title for a little something different in this one: Betsy Braves the Billows, Tik-Tok Tackles a Tough Task, etc. And his usual delightful brand of creative elements are there, this time bringing us the Rose Kingdom and its exiled princess, as well as the Queen of Light and her maidens, Sunlight, Moonlight, Starlight, Daylight, Firelight and Electra.

I started reading this series with my son back in October. He turned 4 in June and we'd just started reading chapter books in the fall and I was looking for great stories without the presence of annoying pop culture. The Oz books were recommended by a trusted friend and I was skeptical at first, especially at his age, but the first book is so much better than the movie, and each subsequent book has been better than the last. After checking a couple different versions out from the library we now make sure to always get the books with the original illustrations by John R. Neill (the Dover 1980s and 90s reprints are the best). I don't know what we'll do when we reach the end of the series!