DrDad's Full Review: L. Frank Baum - Lost Princess of Oz
A nightly ritual at my house is the Bedtime Story. While my wife reads Dr. Seuss books to our younger children (ages 3 and 2), I and my 5 year old daughter venture off to the land of Oz. Reading only a chapter or two makes the visit a short one, but these trips to Oz are having a significant impact on my daughter as they feed her imagination, enhance her creativity, strengthen her intelligence and shape her character. In this review of our most recently finished book, The Lost Princess of Oz, I will introduce you this wonderful story and its fanciful characters, and discuss how this book can become a treasured memory that will stay with your children throughout their lives.
After writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900, L. Frank Baum went on to write 13 more books about the fairyland of Oz. When multiple books are written about a fantasy land, such as Anne McCaffrey's Pern series, or C. S. Lewis' Narnia series, some of the books in the series are better than others. Baum's The Lost Princess of Oz is considered by many, including my daughter and me, to be one of the best Oz books in the series. Being the 11th book in the series, I do not recommend that you start with it as your introduction into Oz readings. However, once you establish yourself as an Oz fan, you will definitely want to include The Lost Princess of Oz in your permanent library.
Before discussing the story and the style, I will first introduce you to the characters and the artwork that Baum and his illustrator, J.R. Neill, have produced in The Lost Princess of Oz.
Familiar Faces
Several of the characters that fans have grown to love from previous Oz books are found in The Lost Princess of Oz. As a matter of fact, at one point in the story almost every key character from previous stories is given an assignment and sent on a journey. However, the central characters that will be familiar to Oz fans are as follows:
Meat People: Dorothy, the Wizard, Betsy Bobbin, Trot, and Button-Bright
Oz-ites: Scraps (the patchwork girl), the woozy, and the saw-horse
Animals: the Cowardly Lion, Hank the Mule, and Toto
New Friends
In every Oz book you are sure to find at least one new character and The Lost Princess of Oz is filled with several. Playing central roles in the story are Cayke the Cookie Cook and the Frogman (imagine a 5-foot tall frog, finely dressed, that walks upright like a human). The Frogman is clearly the more interesting character, with a personality that is pompous, conceited and self-righteous. However, Baum writes the story in such a way that we like the scenes that involve the Frogman, and are not put off by his initial nature. And in the end, the Frogman's character changes and the reader is taught a lesson in "human" behavior.
Appearing late in the book, but central to its ending, are the Bear King and his magical servant, the Pink Bear, who is a wind-up bear that answers any question asked of it with the truth. How it knows the correct, truthful answer to any question asked is part of the magic of Oz, and issue of whether the Pink Bear is always correct is one of the mysteries that Baum successfully pulls off in The Lost Princess of Oz.
The Artwork
The original The Lost Princess of Oz contains 12 full-color plates and 98 black-and-white drawings by J.R. Neill. Artwork in a fantasy book can often have a negative effect if it replaces the reader's imagination, or if the artwork goes against the descriptions in the story. In all the Oz books that Neill illustrated, including The Lost Princess of Oz, Neill does an excellent job of feeding the reader's imagination without stifling it. For the most part, the artwork very closely matches Baum's descriptions, and the use of line drawings and color plates every few pages gives the reader a consistent visual foundation upon which the imagination can build. Overall, the artwork in The Lost Princess of Oz is impressive, and if you purchase this book I encourage you to buy a publication that contains Neill's drawings.
The Story
Some of Baum's Oz books are more of a procession of events rather than a story. For example, in The Road to Oz, Dorothy, the Shaggy Man, and Button-Bright wander their way to Oz for a birthday party and although they meet interesting characters, there is no sense of urgency or concern about their situation. A good story has a goal, obstacles to the goal, and resolution. The Lost Princess of Oz contains these necessary elements and thus is able to easily hold a young reader's interest.
The story opens with the discovery that Ozma, the fairy ruler of Oz, is missing and so are all the magical instruments that belonged to Ozma, the Wizard, and Glinda. This introduces the goal of the story which is to find and rescue Ozma. However, in another part of Oz, Cayke the Cookie Cook has discovered that her magic dishpan, which allowed her to bake perfect cookies, is missing. She and the Frogman, who is the leader of her people, set out to find the missing dishpan which sets up the goal for their adventures.
The story switches back and forth between the adventures of the Ozma search party, consisting of the cast of Familiar Faces described above, and the dishpan search party, consisting of Cayke and the Frogman. Baum does an excellent job of keeping both expeditions interesting to the reader by present numerous minor obstacles that must be overcome. Eventually, both parties meet and join forces when they discover that Ugu the Shoemaker is the evil magician who took Ozma and all the magical instruments of Oz, including Cayke's dishpan. Now the major obstacle of defeating the evil magician to rescue Ozma and recover the stolen goods is set up and dealt with in several chapters.
The resolution of the story is......well, keep in mind that this is a children's book and, like all of Baum's Oz stories, has a happy ending. I don't think I've spoiled the story for you because the ending is about how they defeat Ugu, not will they defeat him. As usual with Baum, some resolutions appear out of thin air and, by adult readers, may seem contrived for convenience. However, a young reader such a my 5 year old will be wide-eyed with suspense at several scenes and laugh with pleasure at how they are resolved.
The Style
Having read all of Baum's Oz stories, I would characterize his style as having two components: (1) tongue-in-cheek humor with a taste for puns, and (2) social satire that attempts to make points about human behavior. Some of Baum's earlier Oz works are so filled with puns and satire that the book is more enjoyable to adults than to children, who are too young to catch the witticisms. While The Lost Princess of Oz does contain these characteristic components of Baum's syle, at no point is the child's story sacrificed for adult-level humor or commentary.
Baum's witty humor is most evident in the scenes involving the Frogman, who considers himself the smartest creature alive, and in the dialogues that occur between the animals as they argue over which of them is the most beautiful. Social commentary is present in The Lost Princess of Oz, but is generally focused on issues of human nature. The Frogman has a change of character after swimming in the Truth Pond, and the animals conclude that "variety is the spice of life" and each of them should be content with their own form. At many places in The Lost Princess of Oz the reader can find valuable lessons that extend beyond the scope of the story.
Teachable Moments
When I read to my daughter I like to encourage her to think actively about the events in the story. Asking questions such as "Why did Scraps say that?" or "What do you think about what the Frogman did?" gives me an opportunity to understand how she is processing the story and to provide guidance for that understanding. In The Lost Princess of Oz, several teaching opportunities exist where parent and child can have meaningful discussions about the events. For example, when Button-Bright gets lost I discussed with my daughter what to do if she is ever lost. The Frogman's dip in the Truth Pond causes him to always have to tell the truth. This led to an interesting discussion (with a 5 year old, mind you) on what would happen if we always told the truth. The Frogman's valiant defense of Dorothy when she is attacked by a giant Dove allowed me to discuss how important it is to help those who are in need. If parents choose to use these, and several other events in The Lost Princess of Oz, to start a dialogue with their children about proper behavior, then the book becomes a useful vehicle for character development (which is what Baum desired, in my opinion).
In addition to building character, The Lost Princess of Oz can be used to build intelligence as well. Written in the early 1900's, Baum uses words that will not be familiar to young children. This provides an exellent opportunity to teach children how to determine the meaning of a word from its context. Also, some of Neill's drawings do not match Baum's textual description. Having a child look for descrepencies between the text and artwork will, I think, encourage active imagination and attention to detail.
Parental Guidance
Some of Baum's Oz books are perhaps unsuitable for very young children. In other Oz books, characters are chopped in two, beheaded, drowned, or otherwise destroyed. However, The Lost Princess of Oz is one of Baum's tamer stories, with few scenes of violence. Violence in The Lost Princess of Oz consists of Ozma being kidnaped, Dorothy's party being threatened with execution and later condemned to death, and a brief fight between Dorothy and a giant Dove of War (as opposed to a dove of peace). Baum does a good job of guiding the young reader through violent scenes in such a way as to create suspense, without causing great fear. This is exemplified by something my daughter says every time we get to a violent or suspenseful scene in our readings. As I alter my voice to express concern over the passage, she interrupts with "Don't worry daddy, everything will be OK.". Thus, even very young children should be able to handle the violence found in The Lost Princess of Oz, although some parents will prefer to skip over those passages, which can be done without serious harm to the story as a whole. Finally, any parents who are opposed to stories involving magic and sorcery should avoid all the Oz books.
Overall Recommendation
The Lost Princess of Oz is one of Baum's best Oz stories, and any Oz fan will enjoy owning this book. I recommend it more for the quality of its story than for Baum's characteristic style of wit and wisdom, which exists in The Lost Princess of Oz but to a lesser degree than other Oz books. I also recommend the book as a source for meaningful interactions between parents and their children. I hope that when my children are grown, they will remember with fondness the trips to Oz that we took, and the lessons that we learned.
Thanks for reading this review of The Lost Princess of Oz, and I hope it has helped you with a purchase decision. For more about purchasing this book, see the Purchase by Numbers section below.
Bret (DrDad)
Purchase by Numbers
If you use the "Check Latest Prices" link at the top of this page (it is a small link in the box on the right side of this page) to surf your way to Amazon.com (a good place to buy the book), you will have to enter the book title at the Amazon page and will then find that there are several publications from which to choose. Here is a brief rundown based on ISBN numbers.
ISBN: 0688149758
Title: The Lost Princess of Oz (Books of Wonder)
Format: Hardcover
Publication: September 1998
Publisher: William Morrow & Company
Dimensions (in inches): 0.93 x 9.42 x 7.24
Cost: $17.00 - $25.00
**This is a hardcover reproduction of the original, with full-color prints. This is the edition I recommend.
ISBN: 0345333675
Title: Lost Princess of Oz (Wonderful Oz Books, No 11)
Format: Market Paperback
Publication: August 1990
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Dimensions (in inches): 0.83 x 6.87 x 4.21
Cost: $5.00 - $8.00
ISBN: 0486403440
Title: The Lost Princess of Oz [UNABRIDGED]
Format: Paperback
Publication: December 1999
Publisher: Dover Publications
Dimensions (in inches): 0.66 x 7.98 x 5.42
Cost: $10.00 - $15.00
ISBN: 0848807863
Title: The Lost Princess of Oz
Format: Hardcover
Publication: June 1989
Publisher: Amereon Ltd
Cost: $25.00 - $30.00
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