Speedy in Oz (1934) is the twenty-eighth in the series of Oz books created by L. Frank Baum and his successors, and the fourteenth written by Ruth Plumly Thompson. It was Illustrated by John R. Neill.
This book features yet another island which floats in the sky: Umbrella Island, which flies by virtue of a huge umbrella with lifting and shielding powers. The king unfortunately bumps the island into a giant's head. Loxo, the great brute, demands the King's daughter, whom he mistakes for a boy, as a servant to lace his huge boots. However, he grants the Umbrella Islanders six months to train the child to be a bootlacer.
Meanwhile, Speedy (from The Yellow Knight of Oz) returns for another adventure. While inspecting a dinosaur skeleton, Speedy is blown by a geyser into the air. The skeleton comes magically to life and becomes Terrybubble, a live dinosaur skeleton. Terrybubble and Speedy land on Umbrella Island. Speedy develops a friendship with the Princess Gureeda, who reads constantly. He also becomes friendly with the island's resident wizard, Waddy. An unscrupulous minister, however, hatches a plot to compensate the giant by handing Speedy over to him as a slave (as Speedy and Gureeeda look very much alike and could pass for fraternal twins). [1]
Aside from a brief consultation with Princess Ozma and her advisers in one chapter, the book deals exclusively with characters of Thompson's creation.
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Speedy in Oz 1934 |
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