The Royal Book of Oz

1921, 1985 Del Rey edition
Ruth Plumly Thompson
Illustrated by John R. Neill
The Royal Book of Oz
Bought newish for $5.95
OK condition paperback
C+

An inauspicious debut for Thompson, this, like so many of her books, substitutes franticness for action.  So it's funny when Dorothy tells her friends later of her "exciting adventures," when these include a visit to a town where everyone is sleepy (Pokes) and a city where everyone is fixed in place while the furniture moves (Fix City).  She and the Cowardly Lion have gone in search of the Scarecrow, and along the way they meet Sir Hokus of Pokes, who knew King Arthur but has been asleep for only 500 years, and the Comfortable Camel and the Doubtful Dromedary, who rank somewhere above Hank the Mule and below Jim the Cab-Horse on the list of interesting beasts.  Sir Hokus will become one of Thompson's favorite characters.  In his introduction, he's OK, about as interesting as an Edward Eager knight.  (Shockingly, I don't own any Eager books, since I was always checking them out of the library, because that's what his characters would've done.)


The "title character" is a sort of Debrett's Peerage for Oz, an idea of the Wogglebug's, despite the Scarecrow's belief that Oz is "democratic."  The Scarecrow, although once on the Emerald City throne for a few months, doesn't have an impressive background.  So he returns to the farm where he was created, and we even get a glimpse of the Munchkin farmer who put him together.  Then he slides down his "family tree," the pole that Dorothy found him on.  He lands on the Silver Island, which is modeled on China, so cue those stereotypes.


There are moments when the Scarecrow is longing to leave Silver Island and return to Oz that I feel like he's protesting being in a Thompson book, longing for imperfect but lovable Baum.  Not that the book is completely irredeemable.  There is some nice wordplay and Thompson has not yet abandoned most of Baum's characters.  Actually, in her premiere that was credited to Baum until this edition, I get the sense that she's trying too hard, as when she sticks "Oz" and "ozzy" in wherever possible, as in her term for Oz geography, "ozify."  (Not to be confused with "ossify.")


Speaking of maps, while I dislike the Del Rey covers' substitution of some weird art for classic Neill (this time the quintuple-spectacled Wogglebug flourishes the Royal Book at a horrified Scarecrow), I do appreciate the maps they include.  The east-west problem is resolved and everything is neatly labeled and plausibly placed.  Credit for those goes to James E. Hoff and Dick Martin of the International Wizard of Oz Club.  The club is still around after 55 years by the way.