Chatterbox: Blab About Books

In 1910, The Emerald City of Oz, L. Frank Baum's sixth novel in his famed Oz series, was published. Readers were greeted by an unpleasant surprise as it had been written in the final pages that:

"The writer of these Oz stories has received a little note from Princess Dorothy of Oz which, for a time, has made him feel rather disconcerted. The note was written on a broad, white feather from a stork's wing, and it said:

'YOU WILL NEVER HEAR ANYTHING MORE ABOUT OZ, BECAUSE WE ARE NOW CUT OFF FOREVER FROM ALL THE REST OF THE WORLD. BUT TOTO AND I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU AND ALL THE OTHER CHILDREN WHO LOVE US.

"DOROTHY GALE.'

This seemed to me too bad, at first, for Oz is a very interesting fairyland. Still, we have no right to feel grieved, for we have had enough of the history of the Land of Oz to fill six story books, and from its quaint people and their strange adventures we have been able to learn many useful and amusing things.

So good luck to little Dorothy and her companions. May they live long in their invisible country and be very happy!"

L. Frank Baum had written that ending in the hope of getting the chance to write new novels that would go beyond Oz. So he did. He wrote two novels, The Sea Fairies (1911) and Sky Island (1912), in an attempt to replace Oz with a new series for his readers. He would have stopped writing about Oz long before, but popular demand forced him to do otherwise. These two books to which I refer centered around two new characters, Trot, a little girl whose real name was Mayre Griffiths, and Captain (often spelled "Cap'n") Bill, an old sailor who is her constant companion dedicating to looking after her.

Now, nearly a century later, I bought and read The Sea Fairies. It was an entertaining novel, and while Baum has produced other works that were far more superior, it was nevertheless imaginative and interesting. The plot involved Trot wishing to see mermaids after hearing of them from Cap'n Bill, and the mermaids grant her wish the following day when they go out rowing and invite them to their underwater kingdom.

Now, back to last century...

Baum was forced by popular demand to return to the marvelous land of Oz with his seventh novel in the series, The Patchwork Girl of Oz. Later, he incorporated Trot and Cap'n Bill into his ninth Oz novel, The Scarecrow of Oz, and continued to feature them in later novels.

Rodney says webt. Webtang? Sound interesting...

Cover illustrations: Public domain, drawn by the wonderful John R. Neill (1877 - 1943)