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Indlæser... Jack Pumpkinhead of Ozaf Ruth Plumly Thompson
Books Read in 2021 (1,179) All Things Oz (25) Indlæser...
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A Philadelphia lad returns to Oz and joins forces with Jack Pumpkinhead to rescue Ozma and the Emerald City from conquest. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Indlæser... GenrerMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.520Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1900-1944LC-klassificeringVurderingGennemsnit:
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Like most Oz novels, though, it's focalized through a human child, so Jack Pumpkinhead brings back Peter from Gnome King. Peter was gifted a sack of pirate gold by Ozma before he returned to America at the end of Gnome King; here he discovers that the sack is magic and it contains a magic coin. The coin is magic change, and thus gives Peter a magic change, whisking him to Jack's house in Oz. The two set off for the Emerald City, but because Jack isn't the brightest, they go the wrong way and end up in the Quadling Country where they have a series of adventures, some totally standalone, but mostly revolving around trying to stop an evil baron from capturing the Emerald City.
I enjoyed it, and I think my four-year-old son did too. It recaptures for me what is the essential Oz formula: a group of unusual people who become friends and solve problems together as they cross through an unusual landscape. Peter and Jack are joined by Snif the Iffin (he was a griffin, but he cannot growl anymore and thus has lost his gr) and Baron Belfaygor, whose attempt to grow a beard before his wedding resulted in a fast-growing beard that just will not stop. The four have to work together to stop Baron Mogodore of Baffleburg from kidnapping Belfaygor's fiancée, Princess Shirley Sunshine, and attacking the Emerald City. There's a lot of creative problem solving, mostly revolving around various ways to make use of Belfaygor's beard, as well as a magic dinner bell the characters acquire during their travels. I don't think it will set your world alight, but it does exactly what an Oz novel ought to: good jokes and fun characters and suitable fantasy perils.
Jack even gets a nice, clever hero moment. This is something Oz authors don't always do for their title characters; the Scarecrow contributes nothing to the resolution of Scarecrow of Oz, for example! But as we near the climax, Peter, Belfaygor, and Snif are all taken out of commission, so it's Jack on his own who is responsible for saving Oz, with a characteristic clever piece of Thompson wordplay.
(The problem with Oz books is that it is pretty hard to justify why Oz needs saving when it is ruled by a fairy princess surrounded by magical advisors, and the explanation in this one is pretty contrived, but to be honest I was entertained, so that's fine. The Emerald City is captured because Ozma and her friends happen to be playing blind man's bluff at the exact moment Mogodore and his army arrive!)
A couple other thoughts: