A) Ruth Plumly Thompson’s Oz books stink: they’re treacly travelogues with no real plot and certainly no real conflict. Bleach. Baum occasionally had his twee moments, but most of his Oz books he kept the icky-ness under control. And what Thompson did to the Scarecrow’s origin is A) cringeworthy by today’s standards (vaguely offensive portrayal of Asians which was probably fine back then) and B) just dumb.
B) Favorite Oz books (in no particular order):
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Ozma of Oz
Patchwork Girl of Oz
Tik-Tok of Oz
The Lost Princess of Oz (which features a smart bad-guy)
The Magic of Oz
Glinda of Oz
I love Rinkitink in Oz, but it’s not an Oz book (or wasn’t intended to be: IIRC the publisher made him tack on the "Dorothy and Glinda save everyone ending) and the Oz sections are the weakest part of the book.
My favorite Baums, however are Wonderful Wizard, Queen Zixi of Ix and The Master Key (a scientifiction adventure!)
Tars, of the canon 40, Baum rules and Jack Snow’s ones aren’t bad. He occasionally got cutesy and could have used an editor, but at least his stories were more than “Let’s wander around Oz. Look! Another stupid mono-concept* village!” :rolleyes:
Fenris
*Everyone in it is a jigsaw puzzle, or a china doll or an eating utensil or a baked good or a bunny :rolleyes:
Fenris