The Royal Book of Oz: 05/16/25

The Royal Book of Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson (1921) is the fifteenth Oz book and the first one written by Ruth Plumly Thompson. The Scarecrow while searching for his roots discovers he's the long last Emperor of the Silver Island. Meanwhile, Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion go in search of the Scarecrow and meet a knight.

This volume was the first one I've read in sequence as an ebook sans illustrations. While John R. Neill wasn't the best of illustrators they still add a certain surreal charm to the Oz books. Without his drawings to pace the text, the flaws in the text become all the more obvious.

Thompson's first foray into an Oz story is one that doesn't have an outsider coming to Oz. Instead it's two parallel adventures with the core characters. The inciting incident is a visit by Professor Wogglebug who has gotten into genealogy. When the Scarecrow realizes he has none he decides he has to go back to the field where he and Dorothy met to figure out what his origin story truly is.

As has been established by the majority of the previous Oz books, there are many ways to get to Oz (despite the desert surrounding it). Thompson reverse engineers these entrance points into the obvious conclusion that there must be as many ways out of Oz. The Scarecrow ends up finding one such escape route through the field and after an Alice in Wonderland and Jack and Beanstalk mashup ends up on the Silver Island.

The Scarecrow has already been established as a terrible leader. Having him given a chance again at leadership is already a mark against this volume. Having the Silver Island be inspired by 1920s white racist stereotypes of China makes the Scarecrow's half of this book nearly unreadable.

Were the book only set on the Silver Island I would give this book a one star. But there's also Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion's search for the Scarecrow. I've always enjoyed the friendship between Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion as she seems to bring out the best in him while still acknowledging his feelings.

But the adventure assumes that there is even more undiscovered land within Oz's borders and even more small kingdoms that are living isolated and autonomously from the influence of the Emerald City. I can only assume that Oz contains a lot of liminal space which allows it to be walkable in only a matter of days but still have enough pocket space for all these semi-autonomous societies.

Like the other books in the series, this one sits on the Road Narrative Spectrum. The Scarecrow et al are privileged travelers (00). Their destination is the city (00) (first the capital of the Silver Island and ultimately a return to the Emerald City. Their route is the cornfield (FF) as represented by the beanstalk to and from the Silver Island

The next book in the series is Kabumpo in Oz (1922)

Three stars

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