Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz
'Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz' Summary
The story opens with a dinner party, attended by seven of the characters from Baum's inaugural book, including the castle-housemaid Jellia Jam. After the dinner, the Wizard takes his guests to a glass-domed building that contains two gleaming silver aircraft, the newly created ozoplanes. The Wizard has named them the Ozpril and the Oztober. The guests enthusiastically pile into the craft to inspect them.
The Soldier with the Green Whiskers is suddenly overcome by a violent stomach cramp from eating too many pickles. He slams into the control panel of the Oztober, causing it to take off. The Wizard, startled and appalled, takes the Ozpril in pursuit and in search of the Oztober, accompanied by Dorothy, Lion, and Scarecrow.
Enduring a chaotic flight, the resourceful Tin Man eventually gets the Oztober under control; he lands in a previously unexplored sky-country called Stratovania. He enthusiastically but undiplomatically claims the place for Ozma as a colony of the Land of Oz. The ruler, Strutoovious the Seventh, also called "Strut of the Strat" for short, is outraged, and decides to turn the tables and conquer the land of Oz. He forces the Tin Woodman to fly him and his army to Oz, leaving Jellia and the Soldier behind in Stratovania.
The Wizard and company arrive at Stratovania in the second ozoplane. But the plane is blown up by the Stratovanians, and the Ozites have to leap off the edge of the skyland to save themselves, riding on winged staffs stolen from two Stratovanians. (The Stratovanians all own winged staffs and use them for transportation.)
The Wizard and his party land at Red Top Mountain in the Quadling Country. The place's rightful ruler, Princess Azarine, has escaped the clutches of the usurper Bustabo (an even worse villain than Strut) who captures the travelers. This villain sends the Wizard in search of Azarine, and holds the rest of the party hostage. The hostages escape, and meet up with the Wizard, Azarine, and her protectors, the great stag Shagomar and his wife Dear Deer. The group reaches the palace of Glinda, though the sorceress is absent with Ozma; the Wizard is able to use Glinda's magic to combat the Stratovanian invasion.
Strut and his forces reach the Emerald City; the residents flee or hide. Strut tries to obtain Ozma's Magic Belt from her safe, but is frustrated; the Wizard has united with Ozma and Glinda to rescue the Belt, the most powerful magical talisman of Oz. Once in possession of the Belt, Ozma transports Strut's army home and ends his bid for conquest. She turns the usurper Bustabo into a red squirrel, so that Azarine can resume her rightful place.
Thompson gives her protagonists some odd adversaries, including sky creatures called Spikers that are something like iridescent spiked blow-fishes, and a large fierce bugbear that is half insect and half bear. And she indulges in extravagant nonsensical tech talk, as with the Wizard's "elutherated altitude pills" and Glinda's "triple-edged, zentomatic transporter." She also misuses the word "entomophagous" to mean insect-like; it actually means something that eats insects.
Book Details
Author
Ruth Thompson
United States
Ruth Plumly Thompson was an American writer of children's stories, best known for writing many novels placed in Oz, the fictional land of L. Frank Baum's classic children's novel The Wonderful Wizard...
More on Ruth ThompsonDownload eBooks
Listen/Download Audiobook
- Select Speed
Related books
The Young Crusoe or The Shipwrecked Boy by Barbara Hofland
The Young Crusoe, or The Shipwrecked Boy (1829) Novel. At the novel's opening, Charles Crusoe, thirteen years of age, asks his mother if he is related...
Billy Whiskers in France by Frances Trego Montgomery
It feature's the adventures of Billy Whiskers, a mischievous and adventurous goat. The series, which was popular in the early 20th century, follows Bi...
Masters of the Vortex by E. E. Smith
This is a captivating science fiction novel that transports readers to the far reaches of space, where ancient secrets, advanced civilizations, and co...
The Missing Formula by Mildred A. Wirt Benson
A secret formula that could revolutionize the world... but it's about to fall into the wrong hands. Madge Sterling is a young detective with a knack...
Leila; or The Island by Ann Fraser Tytler
"Leila; or The Island" by Ann Fraser Tytler whisks readers away to a lush and mysterious setting, where the fates of its characters are entwined with...
Freaks on the Fells: Three Months' Rustication, Story 3 by R. M. Ballantyne
In "Freaks on the Fells: Three Months' Rustication, Story 3" by R. M. Ballantyne, an enigmatic world of adventure unfolds as we follow the compelling...
El Dorado by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
El Dorado, by Baroness Orczy is a sequel book to the classic adventure tale, The Scarlet Pimpernel. It was first published in 1913. The novel is notab...
''Mr Rowl'' by D. K. Broster
Raoul des Sablières, a French parole prisoner in England during the Napoleonic Wars, becomes enmeshed in a complicated tangle where his honour conflic...
Billy Whiskers at Home by Frances Trego Montgomery
This is one in the beloved series of Billy Whisker books. a lovable goat whose adventures always entertain. Of course, adventure for Billy usually mea...
The Boy Scouts in Front of Warsaw; Or, In the Wake of War by George Durston
In the aftermath of World War I, a group of courageous Boy Scouts from England sets off on a perilous journey to Warsaw, Poland, a city left in ruins...
Reviews for Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz
No reviews posted or approved, yet...