"The Hidden Valley of Oz" is the thirty-ninth book in in the Oz series created by L. Frank Baum. It was written by Rachel R. Cosgrove and published in 1951.
The story features a boy named Jonathan Andrew Manley, but he is almost entirely referred to by his names abbreviation "Jam." Jam travels to Oz by way of a collapsible kite and instantly is faced with a terrible giant that is powered by eating magical muffins that grow on an actual muffin tree. Hearing that the boy is named Jam, he plans to eat him for breakfast.
Luckily, the boy did not come alone. He brought with him two cute Guinea pigs that hilariously finish each other's sentences. He also brought with him what may be my favorite Oz character to date, Percy the rat. Percy ends up being the character who solves most of the problematic puzzles throughout the story, showing that rats are extremely intelligent and adaptable to most situations. The author gave him a lot of "street smarts" that allowed him to do this, and I just adore him.
Early on in the story, Percy get ahold of one of the magic muffins which turns him into an oversized rat. Once he is in this state, he likes it too much to give it up. He panics whenever he starts to shrink and desperately eats more and more of the muffin to keep him big. The reason he liked being big was because he liked being a novelty and later got the Wizard's held to keep him at that size without needing the consumable muffins to do it.
Another new character that was introduced was Spots the leopard. He was a leopard that actually could change his spots. They would change into various shapes and symbols based on his emotions. As an example, they might change into tear drops if something made him sad or exclamation points if he was alarmed. Imagine that: an Oz book invented emojis nearly fifty years before they actually happened!
Cosgrove actually wrote two cannon Oz books, but her second one did not get published until 1993, so it may be a long time before I get to that one. I will say about her though that she is very good at creating puzzles out of situations that have to be solved by the characters. They are clever and really made me think. What's more is that these puzzled involved equally clever solutions that felt grounded in reality while still being fairyland-based. I was fascinated by them.
Another thing that separates her work from others was how she focused much on the personality and emotions of the characters. They felt more "alive" than they have ever been. Dangerous situations actually felt dangerous, and characters never acted unaccountably brave simply because they were heroes in a book.
One last thing about Percy: Apparently Cosgrove worked as a scientist in real life, and that's where the rat came in. Percy was based on the many rats that underwent testing in her lab. I had a feeling about this as I read it. I even remember thinking something like, "I bet she has a pet rat or something." Percy really has become my favorite Oz character. I even like the way he referred to everyone as "kiddo."
"The Hidden Valley of Oz" may end up having the privilege of being my favorite Oz book to date. I have no complaints. I just really loved it. It made me feel warm inside. I absolutely recommend this book to anyone.
This blog was written on December 14, 2022.
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The pun, going to us the boy as "jam" and eat him because he is... JAM. The leopard changing his spots was clever. I thought about emojis before you mentioned it. Interesting that a lab rat becomes the party scientist. I'm glad this book revived the franchise by topping every book before it. 110% off-sets entropy.
ReplyDeleteYeah his name was certainly setup to work with the story. That's for sure.
DeleteI'm glad Cosgrove proved to be worthy of writing OZ. Interesting that she was a scientist. Two cute Guinea pigs and a rat... yea I can see why you would like the book. ;)
ReplyDeleteYeah. Yep. Pretty much. Written for me. Yup.
DeleteMagic muffins definitely have their place in an Oz story. It seems as if the puzzles are much of the appeal in this one. As a scientist, she would spend a lot of time figuring things out.
ReplyDeleteIt all around felt like an Oz story. In fact, the muffin tree is actually not as crazy as some of the stuff Baum did. Remember the Lunch Pale Tree?
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