The Scarecrow of Oz: 09/02/24

I should have posted this review in August but completely forgot!

The Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum and John R. Neill (1915) is the ninth book in the original Oz series. It's also the third book in the Trot and Cap'n Bill series. For the second time in his existence, the Scarecrow will end up King, but this time it's part of being a hero.

Although Oz can be walked across in about a week's time (coincidently, so can Kansas), it seems to have infinite spots for micro-kingdoms. This volume spends a good chunk of time and effort in Jinxland, a valley kingdom just inside of Quadling County, pressed up against the Great Sandy Waste and an impassible mountain pass.

Because the Jinxlanders can't leave their kingdom, Glinda and Ozma are completely disinterested in them or their well fare, even after two palace coups which include the burying alive of a person. It's not until previous guests to the Emerald City that either woman decides it's time to do something about the Jinxland situation.

Besides the despot ruler, there's a forbidden romance between a princess and the gardener's boy. Here's where John R. Neill's inconsistent illustrations get annoying. For the most part, the princess and Trot are written as peers. Trot, though younger is still old enough to appreciate that the princess is in love and doesn't want to consent to an arranged marriage to a much older man.

But Neill's artwork throughout the series has one major annoying quirk. When he draws female characters on their own, or together (without the presence of a male character) he draws them as young adults, somewhere in the range of mid teens to early twenties. However, if there is a male character about, they are suddenly back to looking in the age range of six to ten years old and are invariably in short dresses and bonnets. Only Glinda the various wicked witches seem to be completely invulnerable to Neill's patronizing pen. Ozma gets this treatment almost as regularly as her friends do.

Four stars

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