Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Revisiting Oz...

The fourteen Oz books written by L. Frank Baum dominated the reading landscape of my childhood. We owned seven of them; the library had the rest. My favorites were Tik-Tok of Oz, Ozma of Oz, Glinda of Oz, The Emerald City of Oz, and Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz. But I chose to reread Rinkitink in Oz for two reasons:  first, it's the one Oz book I've read the least; in fact, I only remember reading it once; and second, this classic children's book was written in 1916 making it 100 years old this year!

"Wherein is recorded the Perilous Quest of Prince Inga of Pingaree
and King Rinkitink in the Magical Isles that lie beyond the Borderland of Oz"

I remembered three things about this book: there's a prince named Inga, an island called Pingaree, and three magic pearls--pink, blue, and white--each with a different power. What I forgot is that Prince Inga's parents and the rest of the islanders are captured and taken away from Pingaree by warriors from the North, so Inga, roly-poly King Rinkitink, and an argumentative talking goat name Bilbil must rescue them with the help of the magic pearls. Of course, there are complications. Inga loses the pearls, and then his parents are taken prisoner by the Nome King. But with the help of Bilbil, Dorothy, and the Wizard of Oz, all is made right in the end. (Sorry to spoil the surprise, but ALL Oz books have happy endings.)

Revisiting Oz is like revisiting my childhood:  all that magic and wonder. In Oz, books grow on trees, animals can talk, wishes come true, and Nome Kings are easily defeated with a few eggs. Makes me want to pull out my box of Oz books and reread the rest. Or maybe I should reread all the Harry Potter books instead; they're full of magic and wonder, too. 

Happy Reading!

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12 comments:

  1. I love childhood favorites. I've never read these though.

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    1. Yeah, they're not around much any more. I only ever see The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in bookstores, and that one's not even the best of the bunch. It's a little sad, but that's life.

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  2. I know I read some of the Oz books as a child, but I can't remember which ones. This one doesn't sound familiar at all!

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    1. I don't think it's the most popular of Oz books; it's always been a bit harder to find. Maybe because it takes place outside of Oz. But it has Dorothy in it, which is all that matters. :)

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  3. I love all my childhood books and my memories of the Oz is the animations. I can't recall if I'd read the book though but the animations was really captivating. :)

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  4. I never read the Oz books! Are they still in print?

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    1. They are. In fact, I think all of them are available in paperback versions at Amazon.

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  5. Oh wow! You remembered that book better than I did. I read several Oz books multiple times, but my memory of all of them is quite fuzzy. I remember the covers of the versions in my home growing up more than some of the plotlines. Thanks for the review...I think I should re-visit the land of Oz this summer!

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  6. I have never read any of the Oz books, but I would like to. I feel like I missed out not reading them when I was growing up.

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    1. Ozma of Oz and Tik-Tok of Oz are the best; but you have to start with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz just to see how it's different from the movie.

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