Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Runaway in Oz [Book Review]

[This blog contains spoilers for a book nobody reads anymore.]

"The Runaway in Oz" is the forty-eighth book in the Oz series originally created by L. Frank Baum. It was written by John R. Neill and published in 1995. I should also mention that the actual book was written in 1943, but John died before he could illustrate it, ultimately leading the publishers to abandon it. This book was finally published, and it was illustrated by Eric Shanower, the man later famous for doing the official Oz graphic novels.

This book follows the same cartoony logic that was present in all of John R. Neill's Oz stories, although it's a bit lighter in this one. It seems he calmed down a bit this time, which isn't such a bad thing. In his other three books, even the houses were alive. That fact is not acknowledged in this one at all, however things like vegetables and shoes still seem to be alive and conscious creatures.

The story is about Scraps who was a character created by Baum himself. She is a colorful ragdoll that was brought to life many books earlier. She tends to be very selfish, impulsive, and enjoys speaking in poetry, although she doesn't have to.

In this book, she ends up feeling unwanted and decides to run away from the Emerald City on a bicycle made out of two giant spools. [She calls it her Spoolicle.] This ends up leading to a number of misadventures where she meets a nerdy boy named Alexample, a powerful plant lady named Popla [She is actually referred to as a power plant. Get it?], and a weird old man who wears pajamas named the Twinkler. [Don't ask. I don't understand it either.]

While she attempts to run away, she causes an insane amount of mischief and ends up getting under the skin of three pursuers, that being Professor Woggle Bug, Jenny Jump, and Jack Pumpkinhead (although Jack was just sort of there for the sake of being there honestly).

Jenny Jump is only ever seen in John R. Neill's Oz stories. She is a fashion stylist known for helping people change their styles by way of a magic turnstile. [Get it?] Even though it isn't mentioned in the book, every single one of her illustrations shows her with a different hair style. I found that to be a nice touch.

I think the one character that rather blew my mind was an extremely manly woman by the name of Fanny. She was a "weather witch," and she was in charge of creating all the weather in the world. She was one absolute unit of manliness. The illustrations made me smile. I like everything about her. She also scared the crap out of me, so it makes me wonder what's wrong with me sometimes. I might just like the idea of really strong women. I'm not sure. I may need a shrink.

Popla the Power Plant was sexy in her own right. She is mostly plant, but she has a human face that sort of sticks out of the leaves. She was very adventurous and she really got along with Scraps the most. There's a good chance that you'd like her as well. [But damn. Fanny. What's wrong with me?]

There was a rather surprising scene in a floating castle where the entire thing begins to melt. The process of its melting goes a bit slowly and lasts an entire chapter. Seeing the characters struggle to keep it intact while it hopelessly falls to pieces was remarkable and exciting as literature. It had me on the edge of my seat. Good stuff.

All in all, this book really slapped. I loved it, and I do recommend it. It just had a way of exciting you. The fact that she was running away wasn't all that depressing because it ended up leading to a impromptu adventure through the Land of Oz. That was the whole point. The point was that there was no point. There was no need for villains or anything. You just get to visit some of the most amazing and crazy parts of Oz, and that made the whole story worth it.

This blog was written on July 12, 2023.

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