Let us look at the new Oz series—THE HIDDEN CHRONICLES
OF OZ.
The first book is now out (The Mysterious Tintype of Oz) and readers will already discover that the reason that Dorothy lost her parents back in Bowling Green, Kentucky, is likely to be a key to much that will be going on in the entire new series.
That is only one small way in which the new Oz series is far closer to Harry Potter than to Alice in Wonderland. Designed to appeal to older age groups, the world it shows is far more consistently depicted than in the Baum series.
Those who have only seen Oz-based movies and have never read the original book, should remember that Baum’s story was written in 1899, and was about a small orphan girl on a very poor farm, and she was younger than Judy Garland was in the film.
In the new series as in the original books, Dorothy was actually carried to the marvelous land of Oz by a tornado, and while there, she vanquished two cruel witches with the help of a scarecrow, a tin man, and a cowardly lion. And she returned home with the help of a pair of magical silver shoes (not ruby slippers).
Significantly, the first story in the new series, The Mysterious Tintype of Oz, tells where and how Dorothy Gayle became an orphan—later we even learn why—but you must read Tintype to begin unraveling the mysteries behind these facts. Here is a bit of the prelude:
The Mysterious Tintype of Oz
Prelude: San Francisco, 1973
Eight-year-old Jeremy lay on the shag
rug of the family-room, intent on the television set before him.
A fanfare boomed, the film was over. He
got up and turned off the TV.
He hurried over to his
great-grandmother, who was sitting in a rocking chair nearby.
“Thanks for letting me see The
Wizard of Oz again, Gran-gran. You’re my favorite babysitter. I won’t tell
Mom an’ get you into trouble.”
The boy winked at her, then plopped down
cross-legged on the floor before her. “Mom was afraid those flying monkeys
would give me nightmares. But you know Ripley won’t let me have bad dreams
anymore.”
He nodded toward a place next to him
occupied by his imaginary friend.
“You told me before that you liked the
Oz books better,” his great-grandmother said. “After seeing the movie again, do
you still think that?”
“Oh, I love the movie, but, well, Oz is
a real place in the books, an’ Dorothy keeps going back. So
Ripley an’ I think it’s gotta be real. You agree with us, don’t you, Gran-gran?”
“Oh, yes, Oz is real all right. I
should know.”
“Since it’s only Judy Garland’s dream in
the movie, whizz-bang, that solves her Oz problems. But back in
Kansas, poor Toto’s still in trouble with that horrid Gulch lady. Course, she
wasn’t in the book—or those hired hands either.”
“Takes a great deal of imagination to
think Oz could exist. You and I have very good imaginations, Jeremy.”
“More’n Mom. She gets real nervous if I
say anything about Ripley.”
“I know, but remember others can’t see
Ripley.”
“One time you promised to read me the
stories you made up about Oz. An’ I know you lived in Kansas then, an’ your
maiden name was Dorothy Gayle. Real cool coincidence—even if
your last name was spelled wrong.”
“Spelled right for me.”
“Anyway, you sorta pretended to be the
real Dorothy.”
“Yes. . . sort of pretended. . . . We
had a tornado, you know. And I’ve kept journals for more than seventy years
now. . . went back several times. Used my journals to rewrite my stories—over
and over. Got help from Alex, your grandpa.”
“You said your stories are closer to the
book than the movie.”
“Well, consider those ruby slippers in
the movie. Now how could anyone do all that walking in slippers.
Red wasn’t the right color either. Silver shoes, that’s what they
were. It’s silver that’s magical in Oz.”
“My silly sister had nightmares just
seeing the movie. So I imagine the real Dorothy might have had nightmares, too.
An’ if she told the kids at school about Oz, she’d have been teased something awful.
I learned to shut up about Ripley.”
“Your imagination is right on, young
man. She had to learn how to deal with bullying and teasing.”
/////////////////
The Mysterious Tintype of Oz ISBN 9781301449255 is available in various e-book formats.
For example it can be found at Barnes & and Noble at
A blog is at http://tintypeofoz.blogspot.com/
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