Tik-Tok of Oz
L. Frank Baum
Tik-Tok of Oz appeared in 1914 and was adapted from a stage musical called The Tik-Tok Man of Oz that Baum had been working on. The novel works through several entangled storylines. Betsy Bobbin and her mule Hank are shipwrecked off the coast of Oogaboo, a small country bordering Oz. Queen Ann Soforth of Oogaboo decides to conquer the world with an army that consists almost entirely of officers. Shaggy Man and Polychrome are on a quest to rescue Shaggy’s brother from the Nome King.
The plotlines eventually converge in the Nome King’s underground kingdom for a major confrontation. Tik-Tok, who functions almost like a steam-powered Sancho Panza throughout, is fully restored from his mistreatment in earlier books. The book introduces the Rose Kingdom, a small country populated by sentient roses, and the Land of Tititi-Hoochoo, ruled by the Great Jinjin. Betsy Bobbin is sometimes criticized as a less interesting Dorothy substitute, but the broader cast of Tik-Tok of Oz is unusually strong even by Baum standards.
About the Author
Lyman Frank Baum was born in 1856 in Chittenango, New York, into a wealthy family that owned oil interests in Pennsylvania. His early career was famously erratic. He tried theatre, sold axle grease, ran a dry-goods store in South Dakota during the bust years of…
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