Pirates in Oz
Pirates in Oz (1931) is the twenty-fifth in the series of Oz books created by L. Frank Baum and his successors, and the eleventh written by Ruth Plumly Thompson. It was illustrated by John R. Neill.
Peter returns to Oz for a third time, this time with Captain Samuel Salt and his pirates on the Nonestic Ocean (which surrounds the landmass of Oz and its neighbor countries). Meanwhile, Old Ruggedo, the Gnome King is back.[1] He had been cursed with a Silence Stone at the end of The Gnome King of Oz, and decides to answer an advertisement for king of the Land of Menankypoo, whose people communicate with words that appear on their foreheads, and demand "a dumb king". He soon becomes leader of a band of pirates and rebels, and attempts once again to conquer Oz.
This is one of the few Oz books in which Ruggedo appears as a sympathetic character. The reader suffers depriviation, trials, alarming encounters, and gratifying moments of triumph and comfort, all through him. Of the two narrative threads in the book, his is the more complex and suspenseful. (The other is Peter and Captain Salt and Ato sailing around the Nonestic Ocean, visiting small islands.)
This book introduces two notable characters: Clocker, a mechanical man who is not as trustworthy as Tik-Tok, and Pigasus, a flying pig whose riders are magically compelled to speak in rhyming jingles. Pigasus returns as a principal character in The Wishing Horse of Oz.
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| The Oz books | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous book: The Yellow Knight of Oz |
Pirates in Oz 1931 |
Next book: The Purple Prince of Oz |
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