Author | Eric Shanower |
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Illustrator | Eric Shanower |
Language | English |
Genre | Children's novel Fantasy |
Publisher | Emerald City Press / Books of Wonder |
Publication date | 1993 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
Pages | 178 |
ISBN | 0-929605-41-1 |
OCLC | 34199606 |
Preceded by | The Wicked Witch of Oz |
Followed by | The Runaway in Oz |
The Giant Garden of Oz is an unofficial entry in the Oz series by L. Frank Baum and his successors written and illustrated by Eric Shanower, first published in 1993 by Emerald City Press, a division of Books of Wonder. [1] [2] [3]
Temporally, Shanower places his novel at the end of the twentieth century; he takes up the story of Uncle Henry and Aunt Em, the surrogate parents of Dorothy Gale. In his sixth Oz book, The Emerald City of Oz , Baum had brought the two characters from the mundane world of Kansas to the Emerald City, where they enjoyed a blissful retirement. At the start of The Giant Garden of Oz, the couple, "after eighty-some years of a life of luxury," have decided to return to farming. (Inhabitants of Oz do not age, unless they want to.) They have acquired a small farm in the Munchkin Country; with magical aids designed by the Wizard of Oz, their farm labor is much less demanding than in the Kansas of their past.
Dorothy comes to pay her first visit to the new farm — but encounters an unprecedented problem. Overnight, the couple's vegetable garden grows to enormous size, with giant beets, broccoli, peppers, and watermelons, and heads of cabbage twenty feet high. The farmhouse is hemmed in by a vegetable wall. Dorothy sets out for the Emerald City, climbing a landscape of mountainous produce. Outside the garden, she crosses the Munchkin Country and meets new friends, principally a white-and-purple cow named Imogene, who gives varying dairy products depending upon her mood:
When I'm content I give regular plain old milk. When I'm thinking hard and get into a brown study I give chocolate milk. When I'm sad and blue I give skim milk. When I get excited, which doesn't happen often, I give butter. And when I get real angry, sour cream.
In a crisis, Imogene can yield a healing golden milk; and in the course of the tale, she gives whipped cream and ice cream too. (Imogene the cow originated in The Wizard of Oz , the 1902 stage adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz .) [4]
Imogene talks Dorothy into accepting her companionship (the cow wants to see the Emerald City). With the help of the Wizard, Dorothy begins to unravel the mystery of the giant garden, and to follow the trail of a would-be witch called Old Magda who is its cause. The task isn't easy; the trio endure a thunderstorm and a near-crash-landing during a balloon flight.
Magda created a giantism potion to make her gardening more productive and her life easier — but lost control of it; giant moles, eating the giant vegetables, become a pest to all and sundry. Dorothy falls prey to giantism herself and endures a subterranean ordeal before she, the Wizard, and Princess Ozma resolve the problem and restore the normal order of Oz.
In the end, Dorothy and her friends face a choice. They rescue Old Magda and Imogene the cow from being buried alive; then they learn that they can revive one or the other, but not both. Saving the old witch can lead to the antidote for Dorothy's giantism; but Dorothy finds she cannot allow her bovine companion to die. Once recovered, however, Imogene supplies the golden milk that restores Magda too. The antidote is obtained, and Dorothy is restored to her normal size. Old Magda reforms, and Imogene gets her tour of the Emerald City.
The Patchwork Girl of Oz is the seventh book in L. Frank Baum's Oz series. Characters include the Woozy, Ojo "the Unlucky", Unc Nunkie, Dr. Pipt, Scraps, and others. The novel was first published on July 1, 1913, with illustrations by John R. Neill. In 1914, Baum adapted the book to film through his Oz Film Manufacturing Company. The book was followed by Tik-Tok of Oz (1914).
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a 1900 children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. It is the first novel in the Oz series of books. A Kansas farm girl named Dorothy ends up in the magical Land of Oz after she and her pet dog Toto are swept away from their home by a cyclone. Upon her arrival in the magical world of Oz, she learns she cannot return home until she has destroyed the Wicked Witch of the West.
The yellow brick road is a central element in the 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by American author L. Frank Baum. The road also appears in the several sequel Oz books such as The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904) and The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1913).
Dorothy Gale is a fictional character created by the American author L. Frank Baum as the protagonist in many of his Oz novels. She first appears in Baum's classic 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and reappears in most of its sequels. She is also the main character in various adaptations, notably the 1939 film adaptation of the novel, The Wizard of Oz.
The Land of Oz is a magical country introduced in the 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow.
The Scarecrow is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum and illustrator W.W. Denslow. In his first appearance, the Scarecrow reveals that he lacks a brain and desires above all else to have one. In reality, he is only two days old and merely naïve. Throughout the course of the novel, he proves to have the brains he seeks and is later recognized as "the wisest man in all of Oz," although he continues to credit the Wizard for them. He is, however, wise enough to know his own limitations and all too happy to hand the rulership of Oz to Princess Ozma and become one of her trusted advisors, though he typically spends more time having fun than advising.
The Wicked Witch of the East is a fictional character created by American author L. Frank Baum. She is a crucial character but appears only briefly in Baum's classic children's series of Oz novels, most notably The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900).
The Good Witch of the North, sometimes named Locasta or Tattypoo, is a fictional character in the Land of Oz, created by American author L. Frank Baum. She is the elderly and mild-mannered Ruler of the Gillikin Country. Her only significant appearance in Baum's work is in Chapter 2 of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), in which she introduces Dorothy Gale to Oz and sends her to meet the Wizard, after placing a protective kiss on her forehead. She makes a brief cameo appearance at Princess Ozma's birthday party in The Road to Oz (1909), but is otherwise only mentioned elsewhere in the series.
The Shaggy Man is a character in the Oz books by L. Frank Baum. He first appeared in the book The Road to Oz in 1909.
General Jinjur is an antagonist in the 1904 novel The Marvelous Land of Oz. She is a character in the Oz books by L. Frank Baum and his successors.
Aunt Em is a fictional character from the Oz books. She is the aunt of Dorothy Gale and wife of Uncle Henry, and lives together with them on a farm in Kansas. In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, she is described as having been a "young, pretty wife" when she arrived at Uncle Henry's farm, but having been "grayed" by her life there, implying that she appears older than her years. Baum writes that when Dorothy first came to live with her, Em would "scream and press her hand upon her heart" when startled by Dorothy's laughter, and she appears emotionally distant to her at the beginning of the story. However, after Dorothy is restored to her at the end of the book, her true nature is seen: she cries out, "My darling child!" and covers her with kisses.
Uncle Henry is a fictional character from The Oz Books by L. Frank Baum. He is the uncle of Dorothy Gale and husband of Aunt Em, and lived with them on a farm in Kansas.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, known in Japan as Ozu no Mahōtsukai (オズの魔法使い), is a Japanese anime television series adaptation based on four of the original early 20th century Oz books by L. Frank Baum. In Japan, the series aired on TV Tokyo from 1986 to 1987. It consists of 52 episodes, which explain other parts of the Oz stories, including the events that happened after Dorothy returned home.
The Wizard of Oz was a 1902 musical extravaganza based on the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Although Baum is the credited bookwriter, Glen MacDonough was hired on as jokewriter after Baum had finished the script, and the book was largely ghostwritten by a man named Finnegan. Much of the original music was by Paul Tietjens and has been mostly lost, although it was still well-remembered and in discussion at MGM in 1939 when the classic film version of the story was made. The original show was particularly popular because of its two comedy stars: Fred Stone playing the Scarecrow, and David C. Montgomery as the Tin Woodman.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a 1900 children's novel written by American author L. Frank Baum. Since its first publication in 1900, it has been adapted many times by L. Frank Baum and others: for film, television, theatre, books, comics, games, and other media.
Skottie Young is an American comic book artist, children's book illustrator and writer. He is best known for his work with various Marvel Comics characters, his comic book adaptations of L. Frank Baum's Oz books with Eric Shanower, his I Hate Fairyland comic book series, and a series of novels with Neil Gaiman, Fortunately, the Milk.
Paradox in Oz is a 1999 novel written by Edward Einhorn. The book is an entry in the series of books about the Land of Oz written by L. Frank Baum and a host of successors.
The Wizard of Oz is a musical commissioned by The Muny based on the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum and the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz, using the film's songs by Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg. The book of the musical is by Frank Gabrielson, who would later write an adaptation of The Marvelous Land of Oz (1960) for Shirley Temple.
Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz is an American animated children's television series loosely based on L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its subsequent books, as well as its 1939 film adaptation. The series debuted on Boomerang SVOD on June 29, 2017. The series was picked up for the second and third seasons. The series ended on July 31, 2020, after three seasons.
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