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Oz Continued #38
The Shaggy Man of Oz
When the Love Magnet falls from its place above th Emerald City gates, Shaggy Man sets out to find Con the Wizard and get it repaired. Shaggy Man's ques takes him to strange places where he meets so extraordinary people -- including a little wooden clow named Twiffle, the Fairy Beaver King, and a boy ar girl from Buffalo, New York, named Twink and Ton The Shaggy Man of Oz is the second of two Oz boo written by Jack Snow in the late 1940s. This facsimi features Snow's complete story and all of Fra Kramer's original black-and-white illustratio
255 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1949
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 11, 2024
Shaggy ok
Very good Shaggy book, but Ruprecht short story was ridiculous and boring. Read the Shaggy part, skip the beaver story.
Very good Shaggy book, but Ruprecht short story was ridiculous and boring. Read the Shaggy part, skip the beaver story.
September 6, 2018
I loved it, but then again I'm biased. I also narrated and produced it specifically for my 7 & 9 year old niece and nephew.(They're on the cover as well!) My brother and I used to love the 'read along' audio adventure books when we were kids. Our favorites were 'The Hobbit', 'Disney's Robin Hood', and 'Return of the Jedi' (Still have the tape). I wanted to create something of that caliber and quality for this generation. For more info, as well as links for a free downloadable version of the book please visit http://www.AllThingsWayneMitchell.com...
Cheers!
Wayne
Cheers!
Wayne
March 10, 2022
Not a bad attempt at recreating an Oz story, but it's almost trying too hard to sound like Baum. Snow creates a few of his own characters (a wooden clown, two human children, an evil magician) and packs the rest of the cast with as many familiar, name-dropped characters as he can fit.
The part that bugged me the most and that made this a Will-Not-Read-Again, is that everything is so self-referential. I haven't read enough post-Baum Oz works to know if this is a Thing with the others, but I found it very annoying that Twink and Tom from Buffalo, NY, had apparently read all of the existing Oz books and therefore recognized each character and setting as they encountered them.
That's...no? What? You might as well claim that they'd watched the movie or gone to see Wicked on Broadway.
Plus, every time they visit a new place, no matter how small or isolated, everyone there knows about Oz, the Emerald City, and even the Shaggy Man, whom Snow enlists as the familiar character to accompany his new children through their adventures.
Why would a little village in the air, where the residents never go anywhere else and never encounter others, know anything about a land that lies many miles away, across an impassable desert?
Why would the castle of theatre-lovers, who never leave their home and don't know any experiences or emotions beyond the stage, recognize the Shaggy Man?
It's so clearly a book that's written to capitalize on an existing franchise and to make modern (1940s) children feel like they can be a part of the story, too, and I find it extremely distracting and offputting.
Snow also fully copies some of Baum's inventions, like the gravity-repulsing flying vehicle from John Dough and the Cherub, which is described in almost exactly the same way, but here is invented by the evil magician Conjo instead of its original creator on the Island of Phreex. Oddly, Snow also reuses the fairy beavers from that same book, although he relocates them to a river just beyond the Deadly Desert, where they can conveniently help the Shaggy Man & Friends find the Nome King's abandoned tunnel to Oz. They weren't particularly interesting characters even in Baum's book, so I'm not sure why you'd choose to feature them again. They add very little to the action.
And there's the Love Magnet, of course, which gets broken by falling off a rusted-through nail (how did a nail rust in the Emerald City?? why would a metal horseshoe BREAK in half?), so the Shaggy Man has to track down its original inventor to get it fixed. For some reason, Conjo, a selfish wizard who loves no one and has never wanted anyone to love him, created this at some point in the past. Why would he?? Flimsy plotting just to pack well-known characters and objects into a not terribly creative narrative.
The island in the sky (not Sky Island, another one) was somewhat interesting, but I found it odd that the Shaggy Man was so incredibly rude to the wren who rescued them. He actually kind of had a bad personality throughout; weirdly antagonistic to strangers, which isn't like him at all.
Their next stop was the best part of the book - the theatre-lovers who kidnap and somehow enchant any visitors to make them into their actors. (These powers are not explained. And the water fountain telephone was used once and discarded, even though it was supposedly present in every room and therefore would've overheard all their plotting to escape.)
Honestly, the only interesting character in the whole book was Lady Cue, who was kind-hearted and hilariously confused the entire time - putting salt in her tea and cheerfully drinking the entire cup, forgetting she was supposed to be showing the visitors to their rooms, getting distracted reading a book of poetry when she was supposed to be prompting the actors, etc.
Of course, once the Shaggy Man & kids "fix" everyone in this castle by exposing them to the Love Magnet, Lady Cue's entire personality changes and she's suddenly a normal polite, respectable lady. (There's a little hint at the end that she retained a bit of her scattered personality, but I still objected to this major change. She didn't need fixing; she was funny and sweet.)
Baum, I think, would've disliked Snow's hatred of the theatre; Snow also fixes this whole group of people by teaching them that plays are empty and bad and they should rip apart their theatre and do something Useful in that space. Why didn't they just...start putting on good plays...? Learn how to act and write for themselves? Nope. Theatre is bad and anyone who likes it is pretentious and cold-hearted I guess. (Baum, meanwhile, loved the theatre and would've much rather had a successful life there than in books.)
Next come the fairy beavers. They're dull and unnecessary, and all the explanations of their travel through the tunnel were a stretch. Why...would they need Visibility Cloaks in order to reach Oz? Glinda's spell to protect Oz by making it invisible to others wasn't going to make anyone who tried to tunnel to Oz invisible themselves...and even if they couldn't see their own bodies underground, why wouldn't they just...hold hands and keep walking in a straight line until they crossed through that invisible barrier, since it didn't actually stop them from moving?
So many plot holes and sloppy attempts to pad over Baum's ideas.
The ultimate conclusion was pretty dumb, too...all they did was repeat the Water of Oblivion scenario with Conjo, who really did not require such a cruel punishment, when Ozma with her fairy powers was right there to intervene.
Then the kids hop back to their Buffalo beds, having displayed little personality of their own throughout the book. Their names were kind of dumb, too; why couldn't they actually just be named Twink and Tom? Tom, at least, is a regular enough name and didn't need some "he's a regular Thomas Edison" comment to explain it. (Plus, he never displayed any inventive tendencies during their travels.) And Twink's name is just a full-on inferior ripoff of how Trot got her nickname.
Glad I tested the waters before believing positive reviews and buying some non-Baum Oz books out of curiosity. For me, it's not worth exploring further; I get that people wanted to keep living in this world after Baum closed off its borders, but no attempts after his were really that successful.
The part that bugged me the most and that made this a Will-Not-Read-Again, is that everything is so self-referential. I haven't read enough post-Baum Oz works to know if this is a Thing with the others, but I found it very annoying that Twink and Tom from Buffalo, NY, had apparently read all of the existing Oz books and therefore recognized each character and setting as they encountered them.
That's...no? What? You might as well claim that they'd watched the movie or gone to see Wicked on Broadway.
Plus, every time they visit a new place, no matter how small or isolated, everyone there knows about Oz, the Emerald City, and even the Shaggy Man, whom Snow enlists as the familiar character to accompany his new children through their adventures.
Why would a little village in the air, where the residents never go anywhere else and never encounter others, know anything about a land that lies many miles away, across an impassable desert?
Why would the castle of theatre-lovers, who never leave their home and don't know any experiences or emotions beyond the stage, recognize the Shaggy Man?
It's so clearly a book that's written to capitalize on an existing franchise and to make modern (1940s) children feel like they can be a part of the story, too, and I find it extremely distracting and offputting.
Snow also fully copies some of Baum's inventions, like the gravity-repulsing flying vehicle from John Dough and the Cherub, which is described in almost exactly the same way, but here is invented by the evil magician Conjo instead of its original creator on the Island of Phreex. Oddly, Snow also reuses the fairy beavers from that same book, although he relocates them to a river just beyond the Deadly Desert, where they can conveniently help the Shaggy Man & Friends find the Nome King's abandoned tunnel to Oz. They weren't particularly interesting characters even in Baum's book, so I'm not sure why you'd choose to feature them again. They add very little to the action.
And there's the Love Magnet, of course, which gets broken by falling off a rusted-through nail (how did a nail rust in the Emerald City?? why would a metal horseshoe BREAK in half?), so the Shaggy Man has to track down its original inventor to get it fixed. For some reason, Conjo, a selfish wizard who loves no one and has never wanted anyone to love him, created this at some point in the past. Why would he?? Flimsy plotting just to pack well-known characters and objects into a not terribly creative narrative.
The island in the sky (not Sky Island, another one) was somewhat interesting, but I found it odd that the Shaggy Man was so incredibly rude to the wren who rescued them. He actually kind of had a bad personality throughout; weirdly antagonistic to strangers, which isn't like him at all.
Their next stop was the best part of the book - the theatre-lovers who kidnap and somehow enchant any visitors to make them into their actors. (These powers are not explained. And the water fountain telephone was used once and discarded, even though it was supposedly present in every room and therefore would've overheard all their plotting to escape.)
Honestly, the only interesting character in the whole book was Lady Cue, who was kind-hearted and hilariously confused the entire time - putting salt in her tea and cheerfully drinking the entire cup, forgetting she was supposed to be showing the visitors to their rooms, getting distracted reading a book of poetry when she was supposed to be prompting the actors, etc.
Of course, once the Shaggy Man & kids "fix" everyone in this castle by exposing them to the Love Magnet, Lady Cue's entire personality changes and she's suddenly a normal polite, respectable lady. (There's a little hint at the end that she retained a bit of her scattered personality, but I still objected to this major change. She didn't need fixing; she was funny and sweet.)
Baum, I think, would've disliked Snow's hatred of the theatre; Snow also fixes this whole group of people by teaching them that plays are empty and bad and they should rip apart their theatre and do something Useful in that space. Why didn't they just...start putting on good plays...? Learn how to act and write for themselves? Nope. Theatre is bad and anyone who likes it is pretentious and cold-hearted I guess. (Baum, meanwhile, loved the theatre and would've much rather had a successful life there than in books.)
Next come the fairy beavers. They're dull and unnecessary, and all the explanations of their travel through the tunnel were a stretch. Why...would they need Visibility Cloaks in order to reach Oz? Glinda's spell to protect Oz by making it invisible to others wasn't going to make anyone who tried to tunnel to Oz invisible themselves...and even if they couldn't see their own bodies underground, why wouldn't they just...hold hands and keep walking in a straight line until they crossed through that invisible barrier, since it didn't actually stop them from moving?
So many plot holes and sloppy attempts to pad over Baum's ideas.
The ultimate conclusion was pretty dumb, too...all they did was repeat the Water of Oblivion scenario with Conjo, who really did not require such a cruel punishment, when Ozma with her fairy powers was right there to intervene.
Then the kids hop back to their Buffalo beds, having displayed little personality of their own throughout the book. Their names were kind of dumb, too; why couldn't they actually just be named Twink and Tom? Tom, at least, is a regular enough name and didn't need some "he's a regular Thomas Edison" comment to explain it. (Plus, he never displayed any inventive tendencies during their travels.) And Twink's name is just a full-on inferior ripoff of how Trot got her nickname.
Glad I tested the waters before believing positive reviews and buying some non-Baum Oz books out of curiosity. For me, it's not worth exploring further; I get that people wanted to keep living in this world after Baum closed off its borders, but no attempts after his were really that successful.
December 10, 2018
This is the first book I’ve read/listened to by this author. I have not read any other books in the expanded world of Oz. I can’t say I truly liked it. I had a hard time listening to the audio rendition, maybe reading it I would have a different opinion. I’m not sure though. I did not find the characters overly compelling. I was not vested in their plight. I kinda wondered when the story would get some depth.
This is the first book I’ve listened to by this narrator ( Wayne Mitchell) and I am unsure I’d listen to another. I listened to some samples of other books and they seem to have the same characteristics. Maybe a better story could overcome the narration/production issues like...
- the voices for the kids sounded the same. I could never tell who was speaking.
- The story narration and character voices were played at a different volume. To hear the dialogue properly meant the in between story narration was too loud.
- Audio quality was poor- it sounded like listening through a tube
- Background sounds were inconsistent and unnecessary. Like making the sound of a door closing or someone walking. At least it was not the whole book.
- Lots of background music. I don’t know why people feel this is necessary for kids books. They can focus to a well told tale without the extra stimulation. For some kids it’s overstimulating. It’s was hard to hear the narration when the music was loud enough that it competed and was distracting.
On the good side...
- he used a different voice for most characters and they were quite unique.
- he instilled personality to each voice
- his cadence is good and did bring the story to life
There are no explicit sex scenes, excessive violence or swearing.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request pand voluntarily left this unbiased review.
Please feel free to comment on whether you found my review helpful.
Story 3/5
Narration 2/5
This is the first book I’ve listened to by this narrator ( Wayne Mitchell) and I am unsure I’d listen to another. I listened to some samples of other books and they seem to have the same characteristics. Maybe a better story could overcome the narration/production issues like...
- the voices for the kids sounded the same. I could never tell who was speaking.
- The story narration and character voices were played at a different volume. To hear the dialogue properly meant the in between story narration was too loud.
- Audio quality was poor- it sounded like listening through a tube
- Background sounds were inconsistent and unnecessary. Like making the sound of a door closing or someone walking. At least it was not the whole book.
- Lots of background music. I don’t know why people feel this is necessary for kids books. They can focus to a well told tale without the extra stimulation. For some kids it’s overstimulating. It’s was hard to hear the narration when the music was loud enough that it competed and was distracting.
On the good side...
- he used a different voice for most characters and they were quite unique.
- he instilled personality to each voice
- his cadence is good and did bring the story to life
There are no explicit sex scenes, excessive violence or swearing.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request pand voluntarily left this unbiased review.
Please feel free to comment on whether you found my review helpful.
Story 3/5
Narration 2/5
January 7, 2024
I’ve been pretty impressed with Jack Snow’s take on the Wizard of Oz series, and I’m also pretty sad because I believe this is the last of them. Goodness knows who’s next.
The story here is pretty gripping, and I particularly liked the city in the clouds and the stuff to do with gravity. We also get what’s essentially the accidental launch of a spaceship, which is pretty forward-thinking considering this was written in the 1940s.
All in all, if you’ve read the Oz series to this point then you know what you’re getting into, and this is just more of the same but at a nice, high quality throughout. Good stuff!
The story here is pretty gripping, and I particularly liked the city in the clouds and the stuff to do with gravity. We also get what’s essentially the accidental launch of a spaceship, which is pretty forward-thinking considering this was written in the 1940s.
All in all, if you’ve read the Oz series to this point then you know what you’re getting into, and this is just more of the same but at a nice, high quality throughout. Good stuff!
August 22, 2024
Once again, Snow tries hard to emulate Baum's style, but doesn't quite reach it. The story is uneven, with a lot of plot points jarringly truncated in order to get to the next episode. His previous book, The Magical Mimics in Oz, is slightly better, but both are ultimately not very memorable despite being fun and humorous.
June 13, 2021
Downloaded on my Kindle. Jack Snow took up the Oz books after John R. Neil stopped. You can tell right away the writing is better than Neil's two cluttered efforts I just finished--The Wonder City of Oz and Scalawagons of Oz. There is a clear action with the Shaggy Man, twins Twink and Tom, and their wooden puppet Twiffle all needing to get back to the Emerald City. They have interesting adventures along the way with the pompous wizard Congo, the sky people of Hi-Up Town, the theater-mad residents of the Valley of Romance and the Fairy Beavers.
July 28, 2024
Great book, I listened to the audiobook version on YouTube. I will leave the link below so that everyone can enjoy it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dICWF...
November 2, 2013
Once again Snow writes a terrific Oz book. It is sad that he wasn't given the opportunity to write any more. The Shaggy Man of Oz introduces a few new characters, whom Snow developed very nicely. The plot is interesting but also easy to follow as it should be for a childrens book. A great entry in the Oz canon.
December 18, 2023
An odd appendage to the Wizard of Oz books. It’s as if the author was really milking it when he was trying to create and expand the world of Oz.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews