The Road to Oz
Author | L. Frank Baum |
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Illustrator | John R. Neill |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Series | The Oz Books |
Genre | Children's novel |
Publisher | Reilly & Britton |
Publication date | 1909 |
Media type | Print (hardcover) |
Preceded by | Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz |
Followed by | The Emerald City of Oz |
The Road to Oz is the fifth book in L. Frank Baum's Oz series. It was originally published on July 10, 1909 and documents the adventures of Dorothy Gale's fourth visit to the Land of Oz.
Plot
While Dorothy Gale is at home in Kansas one day, she and her pet dog Toto meet the Shaggy Man who comes walking past the Gale farm. He is a friendly, yet slightly senile hobo with an optimistic, care free mentality. He politely asks Dorothy for directions to Butterfield, which is the nearest town on the prairie. The girl agrees to show him the way, bringing her dog with her.
Further on, the road splits into seven paths. They take the seventh one and soon find themselves lost in what appears to be another dimension. The trio meets
Dorothy, Toto, the Shaggy Man, Button-Bright, and Polychrome come to the peculiar town of Foxville, where anthropomorphic foxes live. With prompting from King Dox of Foxville, Dorothy deduces that she and Toto are obviously on another "fairy adventure" that will ultimately lead them to the magical Land of Oz, just in time for Princess Ozma's royal birthday party. The king takes a particular liking to Button Bright, whom he considers astute and clever due to his tabula rasa-like mind. Believing that the human face does not suit one so clever, Dox gives him a fox's head which he is unable to remove. A similar event subsequently happens to the Shaggy Man, when King Kik-a-Bray of Dunkiton confers a donkey's head upon him — also in reward for cleverness, even though it is implied that Foxville and Dunkiton exist at odds with one another. Though both of them ask Dorothy to procure them invitations to Princess Ozma's birthday party.
After meeting the Musicker (who produces music from his breath) and fighting off the Scoodlers (who fight by removing their own heads and throwing them at the travelers), Dorothy and her companions reach the edge of the fatal Deadly Desert completely surrounding the Land of Oz. There, the Shaggy Man's friend Johnny Dooit builds a "sand-boat" by which they may cross. This is necessary because physical contact with the desert's sands, as of this book and Ozma of Oz (1907), will turn the travelers to dust.
Upon reaching the Land of Oz, Dorothy and her companions are warmly welcomed by the mechanical man
As preparations for Ozma's birthday party are made, the guests include Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, Cowardly Lion, the
After everyone has presented their gifts and feasted at a lavish banquet in Ozma's honor, the Wizard of Oz demonstrates a method of using bubbles as transportation by which to send everyone home. Polychrome is finally found by her rainbow family and she is magically lifted into the sky when she climbs back onto her bow. Button-Bright leaves with Santa Claus in a soap bubble with the Sawhorse loaned to Santa Claus. Dorothy and Toto are finally wished back home to Kansas again by Ozma's use of the Magic Belt.
Publication history
The sales figures of Baum's other fantasy novels always lagged behind his Oz novels; it has therefore been theorized that the "guest appearances" of his non-Oz characters in The Road to Oz were a marketing ploy to raise interest in those other titles.[1]
This is the only Oz book to be printed on colored pages instead of with colored pictures. The colored pages represent the signature colors of the various countries of Oz that Dorothy and her companions travel through on their way to the Emerald City.
The Tin Woodman's garden features images of Dorothy and Toto, representing them as they first arrived in Oz. The illustrator,
Reception
In A Brief Guide to Oz, Paul Simpson notes, "The Road to Oz contradicts earlier stories by claiming there's no money in Oz, with many Oz scholars speculating that Baum is suggesting a very communist ethos at work."[2]
References
- ^ Ness, Mari (5 November 2009). "Partying in a Utopian Fairyland: The Road to Oz". Tor.com. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
- ISBN 978-1-47210-988-0. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
External links
- The Road to Oz at Project Gutenberg
- The Road to Oz public domain audiobook at LibriVox
- The Road to Oz; in which is related how Dorothy Gale of Kansas, the Shaggy Man, Button Bright, and Polychrome the Rainbow's daughter met on an enchanted road and followed it all the way to the marvelous land of Oz from The Internet Archive
- The Road to Oz at Open Library
- The Road to Oz title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
The Oz books | ||
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Previous book: Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz |
The Road to Oz 1909 |
Next book: The Emerald City of Oz |