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Indlæser... Pirates in Oz (1931)af Ruth Plumly Thompson
Books Read in 2021 (1,446) Indlæser...
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Return to L. Frank Baum's wonderful world of Oz with this illustrated children's book series. The old Gnome King attempts to capture the Emerald City and regain his magic belt, much to the horror of Peter, the Philadelphia boy who returns on a flying poetical pig to try to save Oz. Hindered by a band of mutinying pirates, Peter is helped by a magic ship that sails through both water and sky, a king who wants only to be a seafaring cook, and Samuel Salt, the swashbuckling Pirate Captain himself. Praise for the Oz series "Where the young stay young and the old grow young forever--these books are for readers of all ages."--Ray Bradbury "The land of Oz has managed to fascinate each new generation. . . . The Oz books continue to exert their spell . . . and those who read [them] are often made what they were not--imaginative, tolerant, alert to wonders."--Gore Vidal "I was raised with the Oz books, and their enchantment, humor and excitement remain with me. They are still a joy and a treasure. I welcome this Oz revival."--Stephen R. Donaldson 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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Meanwhile, on the Octagon Isle, all of King Ato's people desert him because they think he's not imperious enough—all he wants to do is listen to books read by his Read Bird, Roger. Soon a pirate ship arrives, but with only one pirate. Samuel Salt is the captain of the Crescent Moon, but his pirates deserted him because all he wanted to do was explore and collect specimens. (They're the pirates who wound up with Ruggedo; the Octagonese also end up joining Ruggedo's band.) Samuel Salt, Ato, and Roger set off on the Crescent Moon, joined by Peter, the American boy protagonist of Gnome King and Jack Pumpkinhead, spirited to Nonestica for the third time. That's quite a lot of strands!
So the Crescent Moon sets off in search of the deserters from both Salt and Ato, both men doing their best to practice being "rough, bluff, and ready" in order to win their people back over. In classic Oz fashion, this means they have a series of weird misadventures, and in classic Thompson fashion, they're mostly based on terrible puns, such as the Nobodies of Nowhere, who have no bodies, just limbs and heads. Or there's the bananny goat, which can generate an unlimited supply of bananas from its horns... one that threatens to sink the Crescent Moon! I've in the past discussed how I'm not a big fan of how manic a Thompson Oz novel can be, with no room to breath between episodes, but a sea voyage narrative precludes such energy. You have to take days between each island landing! I enjoyed the places they went, though I wish there had been a tad more problem-solving on the way (Thompson did a good job of that in Jack Pumpkinhead), as it often seems like they just go somewhere, leave it, go somewhere, leave it, without difficulty.
I enjoyed all this: the characters are fun, and they get to change and evolve and discover themselves. Samuel discovers he just can't be a mean pirate, no matter how hard he tries; there's one sequence where they do steal stuff from another ship, and Samuel slyly pays them back. On the other hand, King Ato discovers that he doesn't have to be indolent, he really does enjoy being ship's cook and being useful. Peter pretty much just stays Peter, once again returning to America to be with his grandfather and captain his baseball team. This is his last ever appearance in a canonical Oz novel. Peter's first appearance only came into the public domain this year, so he would have been difficult for even fan authors to use up until now.
Based on our looking at the covers, my four-year-old son had known for a long time this book featured a flying pig named "Pigasus," and he was looking forward to that immensely. So much so that for the first two thirds of the book he was constantly asking me where Pigasus was! When Pigasus does finally turn up, he thankfully is good fun; his power is that everyone who rides him is obligated to speak in (terrible) rhymes, which of course plays to Thompson's strengths as a writer.
At the end, the Crescent Moon catches up to the pirates in Menankypoo... only by that point Ruggedo and his pirates have already made it to the Emerald City. So Peter takes off on Pigasus, while Samuel Salt uses a convenient magic flask to make the Crescent Moon fly. Ruggedo is invisible, so he's able to steal the Magic Belt before anyone notices, and Peter arrives just as he's about to transform everyone into various inanimate objects. Peter distracts Ruggedo long enough for Samuel to show up and finish him off. To be honest, it's a bit unbelievable both how easily Ruggedo overcomes Ozma, the Wizard, and company, and how easy he is overcome in turn, but hey, is anyone reading these books for the action climaxes? Probably not.
We moved through this one slowly, though, so my son had pretty much forgotten that Ato was a king deserted by his people, and that Ruggedo's pirates used to be Samuel's before all that was paid off at the end of the novel! Still he seemed to have a good time with a lot of the fantastical elements, even if he didn't really get the joke of Samuel and Ato trying to be mean all the time and failing. He reported he enjoyed the novel, and I think this is true.