Tag Archives: the mikado

The Sins of Silver Island

The Royal Book of Oz, by Ruth Plumly Thompson – I’d gotten into the habit a few years ago of starting to reread the hundredth-anniversary Oz book around L. Frank Baum’s birthday, 15 May. Since the last one was published … Continue reading

Posted in Animals, Book Reviews, Characters, Families, History, Humor, Japan, L. Frank Baum, Language, Magic, Magic Items, Oz, Oz Authors, Places, Prejudice, Ruth Plumly Thompson | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Offbeat Officials of Oz

The Oz books have a lot of small royal courts with unusually-titled officials. This is something we see much more often in Ruth Plumly Thompson, but L. Frank Baum did have a few examples. In John Dough and the Cherub, … Continue reading

Posted in Authors, C.S. Lewis, Characters, Chronicles of Narnia, Humor, L. Frank Baum, Magic Items, Names, Oz, Oz Authors, Places, Ruth Plumly Thompson | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Etymology in Oz

I bought a few old Baum Bugle issues at OzCon in Portland, and they have some interesting content. There was apparently a sometime recurring feature called “Footnotes to Oz” that explained names in the Oz series, written by Jerry Tobias. … Continue reading

Posted in Authors, Characters, Etymology, Humor, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jack Snow, John R. Neill, L. Frank Baum, Language, Names, Oz, Oz Authors, Places, Ruth Plumly Thompson | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Making a Killing

For someone who wanted to leave out the heartaches and nightmares from his fairy tales, L. Frank Baum included a fair number of executioners. I suspect this is partially due to the influence of Lewis Carroll, whose Queen of Hearts … Continue reading

Posted in Authors, Characters, Lewis Carroll, Oz, Oz Authors, Ruth Plumly Thompson | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Straw Man Origins

I’ve already described Ruth Plumly Thompson’s origin story for the Scarecrow, but I thought this was a topic that could use another look. It’s rather controversial in the Oz community, although I have to wonder how much of that is … Continue reading

Posted in Buddhism, Characters, Magic Items, Oz, Religion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments