Monday, March 28, 2005

The Hungry Tiger of Oz

From the diary: “May 28, 1981

“I finished The Hungry Tiger of Oz. Am reading The Giant Horse of Oz.”

The Ruth Plumly Thompson Oz books were all out of print at this time but I was buying them as fast as I could find them (and could afford them). In this run of reading Oz I assume I had not yet found a copy of Grampa in Oz or The Lost King of Oz, the two books published between Cowardly Lion and Hungry Tiger. I was looking forward to Lost King because Thompson offered an explanation to what happened to Ozma’s father, King Pastoria. I had a low opinion of The Hungry Tiger of Oz as Thompson seemed to indulge her penchant for amusing little countries (usually based on puns) that seem to hurl themselves like big rubber balls in the way of the heroes who are just trying to get from point A to point B, darnit.

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