Customer Reviews

The Tin Woodman of Oz: A Faithful Story of the Astonishing Adventure Undertaken by the Tin Woodman, Assisted by Woot the Wanderer, the Scarecrow of Oz, and Polychrome, the Rainbow's Daughter

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Like all of L. Frank Baum's Oz books, "The Tin Woodman of Oz" has an effortless sense of memorability about it which not all Oz authors have been able to attain. It raises more interesting philosophical problems about identity and the nature of love than do most of the Oz books, and is, like most of Baum's writing, gently humorous and optimistic about the world and human nature. Some of the plot twists in the latter part of the book, which concern the repercussions of Nick Chopper's transformation into a Tin Woodman, may be disturbing for some young readers; but the questions these events raise are fascinating and could lead children into interesting discussions with their parents about what makes a person himself. Books of Wonder's beautiful edition includes all of John R. Neill's illustrations, including the endpapers and the color plates; this is the only one of the "Famous Forty" Oz books to include illustrations of the Wicked Witch of the East, of the Tin Woodman's long-lost love Nimmie Amee, and of the Tin Woodman himself as he appeared when he was a normal "meat" man. All of Baum's books are children's classics, and "The Tin Woodman of Oz" is no exception.

This book, for some reason, was one of the hardest for me to lay my hands on as a child. As an avid Oz, this was pure torture. I had always loved the Tin Woodman, so I was desperate to read a book dedicated to him. Finally, on my 11th birthday, I was given the book by a friend of mine...and, after all the anticipation, I am happy to report that the story did not disappoint. I was immediately captivated by the cover of the book, for--what was this--TWO tin men? That was all the encouragement I needed to immediately abandon reality and plunge into this book. Well, after reading this tale again as an adult, The Tin Woodman of Oz stands up as one of Baum's best. In a somewhat rare turn for the author, he gazes back upon a past book of Oz to explore the history of one of his all-time favorite characters--and he does his usual marvelous job. My favorite scene is the adventure with the giantess, Yoop, but this adventure really starts to thump like the heart of our favorite tin man when our heroes meet none other than the Tin Soldier. This is probably the darkest of all of the Oz books; after all, Baum describes the building of a man from the discarded parts of another! But it's always Baum's charming style that wins over and, somehow, he can handle what seems to be a macabre subject matter in a delightful fashion. As a boy, it was a great pleasure to read a book that starred an all male trio (very unusual for Baum) and I'm sure this contributed to making this Oz adventure one of my favorites of the series.

I read this book to my son over the course of a couple of weeks (a chapter a night) and we both enjoyed it. The story is a journey, as usual, in which the chief characters overcome a number of obstacles prior to returning to Oz for a happy conclusion. The chief motivator is Woot the Wanderer, a munchkin boy who helps convince the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow to make a journey to the Woodman's old sweetheart and make amends for abandoning her by accident in the original book (he rusted, you know). The journey takes them into a shape-shifting confrontation with a mysterious giantess, brings them into contact new and unusual animals in the wild, introduces the Woodman's romantic rival (and fellow Tin Man), and resolves itself in an interesting manner when both Tin Men meet the object of their former affections.

Having read all but Frank Baum's final Oz book, I can say that the Tin Woodman is one of my favorites and easily the best in the series since the Patchwork Girl. The plot structure is very clear and Baum's usual lessons on simple morals and honor fit well within the context of the book, especially those regarding faithfulness and honor. Most interestingly, he tackles a fairly complicated philosophical question towards the end of the book - what is man, what part makes him a man, and how does he retain his identity if those parts leave him? Even if your children won't pick up on that slight complication, they will enjoy the rest of the story.

This is a great bedtime reading book for a younger child. The story moves along at a good clip, the characters are interesting and weird, the language used is within the range of kids as young as four, there are lots of really nice illustrations, and the book is a high quality product (hardback with dust jacket). The book is also fairly long, so the story can play itself out over days or weeks (assuming you read one chapter per night). This is the sort of book your kid will keep and pass on to their children.

The Tin Woodman of Oz (book 12)is easily the most surreal of the Oz books. While they all have a pretty healthy dose of strange locked inside their pages, this book is so odd that I can distinctly remember that it disturbed me as a child. It was not one of the Oz books that I returned to over and over. Reading it again made it clear just what was so strange.

The main idea of The Tin Woodman of Oz is to explore the back story of Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman. As you may or may not know or remember, Nick Chopper started life as an ordinary sort of flesh-and-blood fellow who made a living cutting down trees. Unfortunately for him, he fell in love with Nimmie Amee-- the servant girl of the Wicked Witch of the East. In order to stop him from taking her hired help away, the witch enchants his axe so that he cuts himself every time he tries to chop down a tree. Bit by bit, Nick Chopper removes his own limbs with the enchanted axe. Fortunately for him, a tinsmith named Ku Klip is able to replace each limb with a tin replacement. In the end, there is nothing left of poor Nick Chopper except the tin replacement parts. Unfortunately, Ku Klip had forgotten to give him a heart. He rusts in the forest, and once Dorothy finds him then everything after that is history?

Or is it? In the opening of book 12, a small boy named Woot the Wanderer appears at the court of the Tin Man's castle in Winkie country. Why? he asks, has the now-emperor of the Winkies never returned to find his true love Nimmie Amee and make her the queen? Excellent question, it appears. The group sets off on their adventure to find the lovely Miss Amee and offer her the man of her dreams who is now restored.

As in all Oz books, there are a great variety of subplots. Many in this book focus on the disturbing notion that Oz folks never grow older-- babes in the cradle stay babes, etc. That's all I have to say about the digressions along the way. You'll have to read it yourself if you want to find out about Mrs. Yoop and the Invisible Country and all the other little side adventures.

I want to focus on the serious weirdness in the book, the main plot about Nimmee Amee. I won't go into all the details, but suffice to say that it emerges that there is a second Tin Man-- this one a Tin Soldier. He got into the exact same plight as Nick Chopper for the exact same reason-- the love of Miss Nimmie Amee. One of the things that you probably didn't need to know about Oz is that if a person gets their leg or arm chopped off, then those parts remain alive. And those living parts are able to be glued back together to make another living creature. So if you take the flesh parts of Nick Chopper and mix 'em with the flesh parts of the Tin Soldier then you get an answer which turns out to be-- you can probably guess it without me providing a spoiler. Just as disturbing as you can imagine.

All surrealism aside, The Tin Woodman of Oz is far from the strongest in the series. Woot the Wanderer is a kind of combination of Button Bright and Ojo the Unlucky, and not terribly interesting as a character in his own right. The little digressive vignettes are more digressive than usual. The only really bright spot was that Polychrome makes an appearance here-- she remains one of my favorite Oz characters.

A should-read if you would like to get the really odd side of Oz.

Definitely one of the best books in the series. I reccomend it. The book keeps at a good pace and always keeps you interested. I loved it so much that when I read it, I read it in two days: I couldn't put the book down!

In L. Frank Baum's twelfth Oz adventure, he takes you on a quest through the Land of Oz to answer the most puzzling secret of the Tin Woodman's past: what became of the pretty Munchkin girl who Nick Chopper fell in love with so many years ago?

This book is great. If you never knew how the Tin Woodman became who he is, or want to know what has changed since he left the woods, read this book. It captures what kind of relationship he had with his girlfriend before the Witch cursed his axe and he became the Tin Man that we all know him as and love dearly.

This book has a little bit of everything for Oz fans. It focuses on two of the original characters from The Wizard of Oz (the Tin Man and the Scarecrow), introduces two wonderful new characters (Woot the Wanderer and the Tin Soldier) and reintroduces us to the lovely fairy Polychrome. And even though Dorothy and Ozma don't feature in this book, they do appear in the middle to help the heroes out of trouble. As typical of Baum, this book features a quest, as the Tin Man decides that he must marry the Munchkin girl that he left behind when he became rusted in the forest and eventually rescued by Dorothy and the Scarecrow. And while there is no villain chasing the travelers throughout the story, there is Mrs. Yoop the Giantess who captures them at one point and of course the land of Oz itself which throws them several curveballs, like making them invisible for a stretch.

Because there is no one villain this book doesn't remain as focused as many of Baum's books do, but that is part of its charm. We lazily get to explore the wonders of Oz along with our heroes, enjoying several amazing encounters and slowly learning the true history behind Nick Chopper's transformation from meat person to tin man. Because the plot and therefore the entire tone of this book are so casual, Baum makes it easy to become comfortable with the situations and the characters. Baum once again proves why his Oz books rank right up there with the best of the young adult fantasy books being published today. The Tin Woodman of Oz belongs right up there on your bookshelf with the Harry Potter books and King Fortis the Brave, all wonderful examples of how excellent children's literature can be.

The Tin Woodman of Oz, published in May 1918, finally answers a question most readers have been asking ever since The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Whatever happened to the Munchkin girl Nick Chopper fell in love with back when he was a man of flesh? Baum, our beloved Royal Historian of Oz, himself also wondered whatever became of her, but it wasn't until a fellow named Woot showed up that he found the answer.

The book opens in the Winkie Country where the Tin Man is reminiscing on old times with his "dear friend" (how you doin'?) the Scarecrow when a young stranger by the name of Woot the Wanderer happens on the tin castle and is heartily (no pun intended) welcomed by the Tin Emperor. While enjoying a fine meal, the young boy asks Mr. Chopper how he came to be made of tin and the following story is relayed...

The Tin Woodman was once an average flesh and blood joe who cut down trees for a living. He fell head over heels for a beautiful Munchkin girl named Nimmie Amee and the two planned to marry, but not if the Wicked Witch of the East (who treated Nimmie like her slave) could stop it. The bitter, evil crone (who got what was coming to her when Dorothy's house fell on her) enchanted the Woodman's axe so that everytime he used it to cut down trees, he'd cut off each of his limbs, one by one. Soon every limb was replaced with tin, thanks to the local tinsmith Ku-Klip. Unfortunately, he failed to replace his heart and the Tin Man was no longer in love with his former sweetheart. He rusted after being caught in a rainstorm and Dorothy and the Scarecrow came along to oil his joints and the rest is history.

Hearing this, Woot suggests that Nick search for his lost love Nimmie Amee and the three do just that. Of course the journey isn't easy and it's far from uneventful. The travelers find themselves in the home of Mrs. Yoop, a sinister giantess who uses her Yookoohoo sorcery to transform the Tin Man into a tin owl, the Scarecrow into a stuffed brown bear, and Woot into a green monkey. She'd already transformed Polychrome (who's always dancing off her father's rainbow and getting left behind on earth) into a yellow canary and kept her locked up in a cage. How do they manage to get out of that pickle? You'll have to read the book to find out.

The biggest stunner is that there's another man made of tin. The friends come across a soldier named Captain Fy-ter who fell in love with Nimmie after the Tin Man left her. Poor guy suffered the same fate and a big question arises. Who will win the Munchkin girl's heart?

Tin Woodman is by far the most bizarre entry of the series, but that's what makes it so much fun. It does get a bit creepy and Frankenstein-ish when the Tin fellows find out what happened to their old limbs, but nothing too gruesome. That Mrs. Yoop is quite the villian and that part of the story was one of my favorites. Sadly, this would be the last Oz novel published in Baum's lifetime, passing away after a stroke. Fortunately, he left future generations of children (as well as adults) quite a legacy.