I’m late writing about this book, mainly because I’ve been having trouble putting my thoughts into words. The Lost Princess of Oz was one of my favorite books in the series as a child, and also one of the scariest (up there with Rinkitink, which also involves kidnapping and captivity). After all the books establishing Ozma as nearly all-powerful, Baum pulls the rug out from under us when Ozma disappears, as well as all the magical instruments that could have been used to find her.
Published in 1917, this is one of Baum’s strongest stories, because he begins with a compelling plotline and stays focused on it, giving us clues along the way until we find out what really happened. Similar to his other books, this is a journey story full of new characters and interesting magical people. We meet Cayke the Cookie Cook and the Frogman, and the Teddy Bear King and his truth-telling Little Bear, who run into our search party as they travel through Winkie land looking for signs of Ozma. As with Baum’s other books, each member of the party (except for Trot and Betsy) have a role to play in finding and rescuing Ozma.
Do all the plot devices work? Not entirely, but there’s a more focused story in this book where it isn’t just about random anecdotes. And there’s Baum’s usual repetition, like the Truth Pond (the Shaggy Man encountered that in an earlier book), the animals arguing about their superiority, and Button-Bright getting lost again.
The Magic Belt is once again Baum’s weakest plot device, because it can do anything, yet it never seems to get used until every other strategy is tried first. Still, it’s nice to see Dorothy come out as the heroine of the story, and it’s a particularly thrilling moment when she turns Ugu into a dove — a giant, terrifying dove.
As a reader we never doubt that Ozma will be saved, but I still found it scary as a child to think of her being stolen away (again, since this already happened when she was a baby, and then in Ozma of Oz when she’s transformed by the Nome King). There’s a certain illustration that portrays Ozma as vulnerable, compared to how she’s usually portrayed. That illustration gave me chills when I was young, as did some of the others, like the one where Ugu is watching the rescue party watch him. It’s also because the rescue itself is quite a long shot. The party is literally roaming around Oz looking for clues, and a lot has to happen for them to find her.
It makes me sad to know we’re starting down the period of Baum’s health decline with this book. According to biographer Katherine Rogers, “while Baum was writing The Lost Princess of Oz, he was struck by acute illness, gall bladder attacks so severe that they threatened his ability to continue writing. Fearing the consequences of an operation on his damaged heart, he resisted his doctor’s advice to have his gall bladder removed and treated himself with patent medicines. He resolutely continued to work, but he completed The Lost Princess in a state of constant pain.”
The next two books in the series may be two of my least favorite, which is probably due to Baum’s poor health. Baum seems to have been working frantically, completing drafts of the final three books well before their publication, and also working on some of his other series (including two girls’ series that take place during World War I). He clearly had many more stories to share with the world, than he was given the time to tell them.
If you’ve read The Lost Princess of Oz, I’d love to hear what you thought of it. And I’ll try to get to the next book, The Tin Woodman of Oz, sooner than I did this one. You can find more Ozathon posts here and at Entering the Enchanted Castle.
