Reading The Land of Oz Aloud to My Son

Originally published: 1904
Acquired: July 2021
Read aloud: July-August 2021

The Marvelous Land of Oz: Being an account of the further adventures of the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman and also the strange experiences of the Highly Magnified Woggle-Bug, Jack Pumpkinhead, the Animated Saw-Horse, and the Gump; the story being A Sequel to The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, pictured by John R. Neill

As Son One and I drew towards the end of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, his interest was high enough that I resolved to continue onward into the second book. (Indeed, at the time that I write this, we're a few chapters into book six.) But when I pulled my childhood edition of The Marvellous Land of Oz off the shelf, it was clear to me that the book was inadequate to our purposes. One of the big draws of the first book for my son was the profuse illustrations by W. W. Denslow, but my edition of Marvellous Land was a re-illustrated Puffin Classic from 1985. Far from having multiple John R. Neill illustrations per chapter, including color plates, it had about one crappy picture every other chapter! This was great when I was reading the books to myself at age ten, but I did not think it would maintain a three-year-old's interest. So I seized the excuse to upgrade my much-loved copy of Marvelous Land, and I picked up the 1985 Books of Wonder edition; the Books of Wonder editions of Baum's original fourteen are not quite facsimiles of the first editions (this one, for example, has different end papers than the original), but they are pretty close.

Son One seemed to enjoy this one as much as the first. After we read about Tip building Jack Pumpkinhead, he built a version of his little brother out of household objects! (See left. The "pineapple ball" was the head, the towels the arms. The towels were my idea, but everything else, including the fairy wings, was all him. He objected when I suggested we could bring him to life with the magic powder, though.)

There are ways in which this one is fun to read aloud. There's a good cast of characters to which I could attribute distinctive voices: cackling Mombi, dim-witted Jack Pumpkinhead, the drawling Sawhorse, the extravagant Woggle-Bug. (I think he did point out, though, that my voice for the bear in Jon Klassen's I Want My Hat Back is the same as Jack Pumpkinhead's; he didn't comment on my Sawhorse voice being the same one I use for Applejack in My Little Pony comics.)

On the other hand, I found the book less appealing on this readthrough. Wizard has a very arresting first chapter: the excellent description of gray Kansas, culminating in the cyclone. Land's is much less successful: we hear about abusive Mombi, but don't see her, and then Tip spends some time building Jack for reasons that to be honest seemed a bit dubious... and then that's it. While Wizard puts Dorothy in peril right from the beginning, by the end of the first chapter of Land, where we're going is less clear. And indeed, the whole book is like that: Tip's decision to ride to the Emerald City with Jack and the Sawhorse is pretty random; the characters leave the Emerald City to get the Tin Woodman's help, and go right back and end up in pretty much the exact same situation they were in before they left, because as one guy with an axe, the Tin Woodman is actually not much help; the flight into what seems to be our world feels pretty pointless; and then Glinda solves everything.

That lack of agency was the main problem I had with the book. When I read the Shanower & Young comic adaptation, I praised the book for its cast of misfits... but on reading the actual book again, I found that element much less successful. I feel as though Baum was attempting to recapture the magic of the original book's Scarecrow–Tin Woodman–Cowardly Lion trio, but failing. Their power comes from the way they worked together (with Dorothy) to solve problems, often in spite of their self-perceived limitations. Here so many of the characters seem to do very little. Tip occasionally has good ideas, but the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman are pretty useless; and new characters Jack Pumpkinhead and Woggle-Bug pretty much contribute nothing at all. Plus everyone becomes mean and is constantly sniping at each other! Like, I want to see the misfits come together and save the day, I want to see the dim Jack Pumpkinhead suddenly prove clutch, but that very rarely happens. I think probably this is because Baum wrote the book with an eye toward a stage adaptation, and imagined some comedic banter. But in the actual book, it doesn't come off well.

I did have a new appreciation for General Jinjur. The gag about how hard the husbands have to work once the women stop working is a good one.* It seems a shame that there's no subsequent Oz book with a substantial role for here; even outside of the Famous Forty, no fan has ever written a General Jinjur of Oz as far as I can tell. Maybe I should be the one!

But, you know, the pictures are great! And Son One clearly had a good time. I was very happy we picked up the Books of Wonder edition.

* "[W]e've had a revolution, your Majesty as you ought to know very well," replied the [Emerald City] man; "and since you went away the women have been running things to suit themselves. I'm glad you have decided to come back and restore order, for doing housework and minding the children is wearing out the strength of every man in the Emerald City."
     "Hm!" said the Scarecrow, thoughtfully. "If it is such hard work as you say, how did the women manage it so easily?"
     "I really do not know" replied the man, with a deep sigh.