The Marvelous Land of Oz

The Marvelous Land of Oz came out in 1904, and Baum had not initially planned a sequel. Reader demand changed his mind. The novel does without Dorothy entirely. The protagonist is a boy named Tip, an orphan apprenticed to an old witch named Mombi in the country of the Gillikins. Tip builds a wooden figure with a pumpkin for a head, names him Jack Pumpkinhead, brings him to life with a magical powder he steals from Mombi, and runs away with him into a series of adventures across Oz.

The book introduces several of the most beloved Oz characters apart from the original four: the Sawhorse, brought to life by the same powder; the Wogglebug, a man-sized highly educated insect; the Gump, a flying sofa with a moose head. The plot involves a coup against the Scarecrow’s rule of the Emerald City by an army of young women led by General Jinjur, and the eventual restoration of the rightful ruler, Princess Ozma, who turns out to have a deeply unusual identity. The reveal at the end has held up better than most plot twists from 1904 children’s fiction. A strong second entry in the series.