Thursday 29 May 2014

Review: The Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Image: http://www.halcyon.com/piglet/bk09des.htm

I've just read a book that combines adventure and a royal love story and involves the characters Tok, Cap'n Bill, Princess Gloria, Pon. a mermaid and Button-Bright. First published in 1915, it is The Scarecrow of Oz, the ninth in the 13 novel sequels to the infinitely more famous The Wizard of Oz. Involving Dorothy, witch Glinda, and posing the scarecrow as the hero, this epic ramble through Oz introduces a host of new characters and has existentialist and humanistic leanings. Who doesn't love ambling through a land where popcorn falls like snow?

The true reason I picked this one up and none of the baker's dozen of others, is that it was on the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge list, which I have just picked up again. This book takes my total to 34 (out of 339!) and is a welcome break from serious novellas. Finally, in Ozma's conclusive words "no one can go far astray in the land of Oz, and if Button-Bright isn't occasionally lost, he isn't happy".

Carpe Diem xx

No comments:

Post a Comment