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saintfighteraqua — The Lost Princess of Oz
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Published: 2014-03-12 08:17:47 +0000 UTC; Views: 2855; Favourites: 37; Downloads: 9
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As a kid this was one of my favorite Oz books...even though it does introduce some of my least favorite Baum Oz characters.CAUTION! 97 Year old spoilers ahead!!
The plot of the story is that Princess Ozma has officially made magic illegal to practice for anyone but Glinda and the Wizard (and herself of course). She felt compelled to make the law since trouble makers like Mombi and the witches of Jinxland terrorize the people while others who are more benevolent, like Dr. Pipt have had accidents that endanger the people of Oz.
Ozma's new law doesn't sit well with everyone though and there are those who practice magical arts in secret and seek to overthrow Ozma.
One morning Dorothy wakes up and goes to greet Ozma as she has everyday since she moved to Oz permanently and find her missing along with her magical tools.
Meanwhile in the south, Glinda has a shock of her own when her own magic is stolen.
Before the people of Oz can find out that Ozma and the magic that keeps them safe has gone missing, a search party is organized from Ozma's elite and sent to the four corners of Oz.
Team Winkie consists of Dorothy, the Wizard, Trot, Betsy Bobbin, Scraps the Patchwork Girl, the Woozy, the Sawhorse, Toto, the Cowardly Lion and Button Bright (And oh my gosh I forgot Hank....*sigh*).
They encounter a race of enslaved giants, mechanical dragons, a castle made of wicker and spinning mountains.
But as they go deeper into the unexplored parts of Oz they find that they are not the only ones searching for the magic thief and when an oracle reveals Ozma's location they face the possibility that one of their own group is in fact keeping her hidden.
I just love the Oz books, what other stories could include magic dishpans, fortune telling stuffed animals, wizard/shoemakers, intangible walls and make it all work?
Oz can also fit a variety of art styles very easily.
Oz is the creation of L. Frank Baum, The Lost Princess of Oz was published in 1917.
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Comments: 36
Love this pic! Love the Oz series! Actually was thinking of going back and reading this book!
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Do you have any more Toto fan art? I want to know because he's such a tasty little morsel... I mean cute little doggie!
(Heh, heh. I always thought the WWW wanted to eat Toto in the MGM film.)
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Yep, the stars of the Lost Princess of Oz.
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Nice art of the characters. All off your Oz art is fantastic!
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Thank you very much!
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No prob! 
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While everybody else is pretty cute in a manga/anime style, Scraps is still creepy looking.
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Yeah! She just ain't Scraps if she ain't creepy!
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Awesome picture, looks really great in colour. I love all the characters you included in the picture, sounds like an interesting book.
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Thanks! I'm glad you like it.
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Always wonderful to find fellow fans of the books! In my experience there are way too many who have no idea the movie was based off of books...and that there are more characters than just Dorothy and her friends! Ozma definitely ranks as my number one favorite character, though I have to admit I find The Road to Oz my favorite of Baum's series.
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I agree.
I used to like the Road to Oz a lot more when I was a kid...and I still think it's one of the best illustrated Oz books, at least as far as details go. The Scoodlers are so creepy too.
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Ozma of Oz by Ebalance on deviantART
Baum is my favorite author. His imagination is incredible and I also love the art of Neil.
This is probably actually my second to last favorite Oz book of his, though. Glinda of Oz is my least. My favorite is Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, followed by the Marvelous Land of Oz.
I just don't feel this book is on par with the rest in terms of creativity of characters and places... most of the places in this book we have seen before or are just not really that fantastic compared with those of his other books. It is still a very good book, just not as good, in my opinion, as his others...
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Baum is also my favorite author. I prefer Oz, but I think some of his non-Oz books are better written.
Yeah, looking back as an adult I'm not really sure why Lost Princess was one of my favorites. Maybe it was because it had a big group of characters?
My favorites now are probably the Wizard of Oz and the Patchwork Girl of Oz.
My least favorites might be the Emerald City of Oz (it used to be one of my top 3) and the Road to Oz (once in my top 5).
If i had to make a quick list off the top of my head it would probably go like this:
Wizard
Patchwork Girl
Ozma
Tik-Tok
Land
Tin Woodman
Dorothy and the Wizard
Scarecrow
Lost Princess
Rinkitink (I still find it a bit hard to think of this as an Oz book though)
Glinda
Magic
Road
Emerald City
BUT I don't dislike any of them really, they all have their strong points and are an important part of my childhood. Some of the not so good ones had the most amazing art and some like the Road to Oz introduced some of my favorites (Polychrome).
My list of favorites also changes on my mood and such.
Why do you like Glinda least?
To me it felt depressing, as if Oz was dying. Maybe it was the technology of the Skeezers or the way I imagine it looking all misty and gloomy purple throughout.
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Glinda doesn't seem as imaginative as the others and it's too much like his Sea Fairies books, but like a less well written version of them.
I like Rinkitink a lot... Prince Inga is probably one of my favorite characters in all his books... but I agree... it's hard to call it an Oz book.
Also my pet peeve... the book is "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." "The Wizard of Oz" is the 1939 film.
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I like Inga too. I just hate that we won't know how the story originally ended since Baum took a non-Oz book and shoehorned Dorothy and friends in.
I think the Wonderful Wizard and Wizard are interchangeable, they were far before the movie came along, as was Land/Marvelous Land. I used to get annoyed by people leaving that out, but now I think it's just convenient.
I've read one of his books written under his Edith Van Dyne pen name, "Mary Louise". It was good.
I've also read a little bit of "Our Land Lady" and though there's nothing wrong with it. Baum was best when writing for kids.
My favorite non-Oz books are probably Queen Zixi of Ix and the Life and Adventures of Santa Claus.
I didn't care for Dot and Tot much at all. Maybe I'll like it better if I reread it.
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I agree. I like Queen Zixi of Ix and The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus a lot (especially b/c the Life and Adventures of Santa Claus talks a lot about the backstory of all the magic in the world... including the magic in Oz... so it has a "pro-logg=ish" feel)
The Enchanted Island of Yew is good as well... there's some really interesting philosophical things in it... strangely enough.
I've been re-reading a couple books I have by Ann Downer right now. She's pretty good, but not too prolific.
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Have you read the books past Baum? If so, what are your thoughts on them?
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I read one... but I'm kinda hardcore when it comes to my Baum... I never bothered with the other ones and I don't care to... I'm a writer so to me I guess I feel a personal connection with his characters and places remaining his own.
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You really aren't missing much. A few are okay but none are really close to Baum.
Ruth Plumly Thompson was really random and obsessed with turning everyone into a young person or royalty of both...including the Good Witch of the North who was more interesting in my opinion as an old good witch.
John R. Neill made Ruth's randomness seem like total order. He turned Oz into a crazy wonderland where everything was alive and out of its mind.
Jack Snow was more like Baum but his Oz had a depressing, hopeless feeling to it and the art didn't help. I never felt any sense of joy as a child reading his books. (He was the guy who wrote "Murder in Oz" after all.
Rachel Cosgrove Payes did pretty good in Wicked Witch but Hidden Valley was a bore in my opinion.
And Eloise Jarvis Macgraw brought back the fun to Oz but it felt more like Ruth Plumly Thompson's Oz again.
I liked them all in their own ways but when compared to Baum not as much.
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That's why I never read those books in the first place... I never imagined anyone could be as good as Baum, so I didn't bother... the only thing I ever kinda wanted was a good book that solidified the backstory of Oz, but Baum is all over the place on the origins and a lot of other things... like the NEVER AGING thing... wouldn't it be horribly annoying to have to care for a baby FOREVER... Or always remain five or things like that... I think it would be better to have it set so people could choose how old they wanted to be and then remain that age. Baum's idea of fairies never getting older just doesn't work if you're too young... I mean... Santa Claus grew up in the Forest of Burzee... key words there... grew up, human, and fairyland. He only left when he was a man, so he grew from baby to man while in the forest, a magical place.
So if I had to create a list of rules (codified from Baum's rules, which change all the time) I would go with the "Santa Claus" rule, minus the always having to grow to be a "full adult" b/c many of his characters remain "youths" and that is important... kinda like Neverland... the Indians and Pirates aren't all kids, but Peter and his gang are b/c they chose it. And as for colors... Baum says sometimes everything in a country is a certain color, but then in Marvelous land he says Jack's head is golden-orange, instead of being blue, so I'd apply the color rule only to man-made things, like clothes, houses, etc. and not natural things, like trees and grass and pumpkins, etc.
Also the Tin Man is not one of the "Oz colors" he's Tin and tin is silvery in color. So... you get the idea... also as for Ozma's/Tip's age, she is a "real fairy" so that means, as we find out NOT in Marvelous Land, but a later book, that she MUST have not had anything to do with the Wizard and that even though in Marvelous Land it was indicated he/she did, that must be wrong, even though Glinda's pearl is supposed to make anyone tell the truth. So I'd like to see a "prequel story" that cleared up all these inconsistent "changes" throughout the Oz series, including whether or not Dorothy is blond or a brunette b/c in all the later books she appears blond. So I'd argue the "mistake" is in illustrations of the first book, and that she's actually blond.
I think you get the point.
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No, they're not as good, but I would recommend reading some of them if you get the chance and don't have anything else to read at the time.
There are all kinds of fans theories to solve most of those problems, but some are good and others are not.
If we take it as "Oz as history" instead of "Oz as fiction" the most likely reasons for those problems comes from the author himself just not doing his research, mixing up facts or just plain making things up. (It wouldn't be a first with someone reporting news/history!)
I believe Baum intended the non-aging rule to only apply to Oz itself. Bud and Fluff do pose a problem though. I always thought of Queen Zixi of Ix as taking place in the distant past (same with island of Yew and Santa Claus). But they show up in Road to Oz. So either they are immortal or slow aging, or Queen Zixi takes place at the same time as the Oz books.
Most fans agree that Lurline's enchantment didn't stop aging and death in Oz until Ozma took the throne and that those rules are only in place as long as Ozma remains on the throne (which would make the plot of Lost Princess a lot more interesting if that had been stated in canon).
In Ruth Plumly Thompson's books, she says that people can choose when they stop aging. (This is where we get the supposedly "official" ages of Dorothy, Betsy and Trot since Trot says she is 10 and in Baum's books Dorothy was a year older than Trot and a year younger than Betsy).
Baum also did say that Dorothy would always be a little girl while she lived in Oz and that Ozma was about 14-15 in appearance, while in ozma of Oz he says Dorothy and Ozma are of around the same age...does that mean Ozma aged?
I agree with you on the color thing, to me that was nonsense most of the time.
I believe only man-made things are always blue, yellow etc. in Oz and we know that most of the green inside Emerald City was a scam, at least originally.
I don't have a problem though with the magic of Oz keeping things like blue flowers in Munchkin Country and Red flowers in Quadling Country (except the poppy field of course!) I've seen plenty of places here on Earth that are shade one hue, especially during different seasons.
On the Wizard, I think most fans agree that he did give Ozma to Mombi. That Ozma was left in the care of Pastoria (or reincarnated or something.) as his daughter. The Wizard might have been doping wickedness when he handed Ozma over or perhaps Mombi was not known to be wicked? Maybe she seemed like Ozma's best bet for survival at the time? Heck, Mombi might have even claimed she was the Good Witch of the North or something.
I used to get super hung up on the hair colors ands I still can.
I like my Dorothy blonde and my Ozma brunette. To me that's just how they are and probably how I'll always see them. They were portrayed that way pretty consistently until the movies came along.
I'm still not so sure Dorothy is even brunette in the first book, she looks like she could be in some pictures but in others she looks dark blonde or red headed. The only really strong theory for her being a brunette is that if that was the way she was portrayed originally, WW Denslow worked closely with Baum while Neill (who made Dorothy blonde) did not, as far as we know.
On the flip side, if you take all of the Oz books in what is called "The Famous Forty" as canon, it does mention Dorothy as blue eyed and blonde haired later and Neill, the artists, supposedly had a magic screen like a tv that he sued to see the Oz people, so he would know better than anyone what hair colors they had.
Ozma is harder to claim brunette I guess because in her first appearance her hair is said to be ruddy gold. Many interpret that to mean she's pale blonde, but ruddy means red. So I'd think she had strawberry blonde at the lightest.
After that though she is always portayed with hair that could be reddish brown or even black.
I've always liked Eric Shanower's Ozma, dark skinned and reddish brown hair.
Sorry for the long comment, I just love talking about Oz.
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I love talking about it too. Despite the original description of Ozma I always thought she had pale skin and black hair, like in my painting.
I can agree with you about the colors of the flowers, etc. things that "might be" all blue, red, yellow etc. after all it is said that the Winkie country is the only place where one can find a yellow butterfly. Then again Ozma wears Red Flowers on her... Tiara? Is that a Glinda thing?
If the Wizard did give Ozma to Mombi I don't think it was out of malice, but my question is about his "defeat" of the witches. Clearly he did not defeat them, but somehow they were scared by the balloon or something? Anyway it seemed like Ozma was already gone b/c in one of the later books they meet and he has no idea who she is. If he had given her to Mombi he would know. I don't think he'd lie to her face like that. He's not a bad person. I defend him. A coward, I think so, but wicked, no.
Pastoria, we know is the "original" king of Oz, but Ozma isn't a name, it's a title. Ozma just means female ruler of Oz. If she has a name, I guess it's still Tip... she never bothered to change it. Pastoria was Oz, and Oz was Pastoria. It's like the title King. So he was Oz Pastoria, she's... Ozma Tip? She has no "real name" It's like if you just called a Queen, Queen, and not Queen (insert name). But Pastoria was a mortal man and his "daughter" is a "true fairy" which is puzzling in other ways... but for now let's just say Pastoria was killed when the witches took over and shortly after was when Oz become a fairyland... "specifically" 14 to 15 years after, which would account for Tip's (Ozma's) looks... it's unclear why the witches went back to their "homes" but I guess the wicked ones were afraid of the balloon that said "Oz" b/c they thought a new and powerful "King" had come back to rule the land... like... Zombie Pastoria or something? IDK...
Anyway... I like talking Oz trivia with you
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I've wondered if the flowers Ozma wears are the same kind of poppies that are deadly?
Or if the deadly poppies are only called such because of their large number?
I also believe the Wizard is a good man. I don't have a problem with him starting out as a more gray character though. Look at what he did to Gwig, I believe he is a man that was/is first and foremost about self preservation.
I understand how you feel, it's tough to find people willing to talk about Oz...at least ones that aren't confused when you talk about Silver Shoes and Glinda the Good Witch of the SOUTH!
Thanks for the chats.
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You're welcome. As I said, nice to find someone knowledgeable about "Baum's Oz" who will talk with me about the ins and outs of the nature of the world and so on... Please check out my website... it's about a world I'm creating called Zemondraya. It's Scifi/Fantasy along the lines of fairies, dragons, spirits and magicians:
White Eye Creations - Home
It's not completely done/it's a work in progress right now, but I've got up a lot of info, and there's a place to buy my last first edition copies of the first book in the series (hopefully of five) through paypal.
I hope you like it
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I checked it out, it looks professional and well done.
I hope to get my own series going sometime in the next five years.
I have so much stuff to prepare though, it's taken me years already.
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I'm so glad you like it. As for the site I'm doing it myself except for the help of the template the site gives you. It's so easy!!! I tried to learn Dreamweaver once and that was a crapshoot... then I had a friend offer to help me with all the coding, but I was terribly indecisive about what I wanted... I saw a friend of mine had a website with this company... it's down at the bottom if you want to use their site... they only cost $50.00 a year to host the site and you get a domain name included. They have lots of good templates and they are SO easy to customize. Also if you are having trouble they have a very good help-line.
Good luck with your series... the first step is the hardest... writing, then publishing... I was lucky enough to have enough money to self-publish... also that I was able to learn to use InDesign so I could go to a company that is just a printer and I didn't have to pay for formatting services. So I was able to get a really high quality book put out and only have to buy 300 copies (full color, hard-cover cloth-bound) they're SUPER PREMIUM quality books... unfortunately the writing isn't what I really wanted so I want to save up enough money so when I finish editing the text I can go back to them and get a second edition, this time in Black and White with pen/ink style illustrations. (I'm trying to learn the style of J.R. Neil, actually. I love his art so much)
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Your welcome.
Thanks for the advice!
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You're welcome too
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You can never go wrong with the Land of Oz. 
Well done once more, Darrell. It's good to see you again, it's been a long time. 
Speaking about Oz... The Wicked Witch of the West on Once Upon A Time. Yay or nay?
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Thank you!
Well, she'd definitely not how I imagine the old hag who terrorized the Winkie Country but I already knew OUAT would turn her into a glamour queen, lol, so I'm okay with her design for the most part.
I can't wait to see Glinda and Oz itself!
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