Rereading: TIK-TOK OF OZ by L. Frank Baum

Cover and illustrations by John R. Neill

The eighth Oz book by Baum has little to do with his mechanical man, though it was partially based on a play about Tik-Tok that Baum produced the previous year. The character doesn’t even show up until well into the story, and proves largely ineffective, though he tries hard.

The book begins in the small, remote Oz area called Oogaboo, with only a handful of inhabitants. Its king has left, and Queen Ann is tired of doing all the chores, so she decides to form an army to conquer the world, echoing one of the plots of “The Land of Oz.” Her conscripted army has one real soldier, and lots of timid officers, but they set out on their mission. Soon, they are lost, and not even in Oz anymore. Along the way they meet up with Betsy Bobbin, from America, who has been shipwrecked along with her donkey, Hank. Those two have been joined by a Rose Princess, who they picked from a rose bush themselves, and later by the Shaggy Man and Polychrome, the Rainbow’s daughter. Shaggy Man is a resident of Oz, but is on a quest to find his lost brother, who he believes is a prisoner of the Nomes and their irritable and dangerous King Ruggedo. Tik-Tok had also tried to find the missing man, and made it to Ruggedo’s court, but then was dumped into a well, where he couldn’t get out. The group rescues him, and once they meet Queen Ann and her army, Tik-Tok agrees to fight for her if they will attack the Nomes.

There are many more twists and turns in the story, including a large dragon, and a visit to the other side of the earth, a place where gods and goddesses live. Once the story enters the Nome caverns, the group must face one obstacle after another. Can they ever find Shaggy Man’s missing brother and rescue him?

I enjoyed this one, the plot and characters are interesting, and it moves along well. Recommended.

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