Fairy Tale Spotlight: Yankee in Oz [Book Review]

[Contains spoilers for a story nobody reads anymore.]

"Yankee in Oz" is the forty-first book in the Oz series started by L. Frank Baum. It was written by Ruth Plumly Thompson and published in 1972. Yep, she's back and an old woman now!

"Yankee in Oz" follows a little dummer boy named Tompy and a space dog named Yankee through their travels in Oz. Yes, a space dog. It's actually a dog that was sent in an orbit around the moon, but when they tried to land the capsule back down, it ended up in Oz. This is great because the dog can talk now, and he is pretty darn patriotic about the American Air Force throughout the book.

The book follows Ruth's usual formula for sending people through Oz before getting to the actual story. They have to pass through a bunch of randomly themed locations that tend to want to capture them, but it's not as bad as in some of her earlier works.

The real plot comes in with the return of what is clearly one of Ruth's favorite characters, Jinniky the Red Jinn, a middle eastern themed wizard from Ev that is about as nuts as he is friendly. I've always liked this guy personally. He reminds me a lot of the Genie from the Disney Aladdin film but with more control over his life and destiny. He is the ruler over his domain after all. He also considers him a direct competitor to the Wizard of Oz and is always trying to show him up.

The villain of the story is a creepy caveman with way too much power. He has this magical net that he can cast anywhere in Oz and pull whatever he wants to his lonely mountain. He usually uses it to capture princesses to do his housework and cooking for him. The only silly thing is that his name is Badmannah, which strikes me as lazy naming.

Yankee is a decent character and worthy of being the book's titular character. One funny thing about the dog is that he is always trying to tell his and Tompy's story throughout the book, but nobody ever has time to listen to him. This always makes him crestfallen, but he always tries to do it at the next meeting. I found this aspect of him especially cute.

Two things stood out to me in this one. The first was a very strange place where people in a town were broken down into powder and stored away when they weren't needed. When their talents were required, you would mix them with water and bring them back. This was both creepy and cool.

This Oz book also does something very rare. It stays with Tompy after he returns to his home for a fairly long chapter dealing with the idea that his dog won't be able to talk anymore and what that means. It is all fairly well done here, and I liked how the author resolves this awkward situation.

All in all, it's not a bad book. I do recommend "Yankee in Oz" to Oz enthusiasts. It surprised me in some places. Although not her best, it's far from her worst. It's full of neat ideas that are executed in a decent manner, making it a perfect addition to the Oz library.

This blog was written on March 11, 2023.

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