Title The Royal Book of Oz Author Ruth Plumly Thompson Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing 1921
	Title Kabumpo in Oz Author Ruth Plumly Thompson Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing 1922
	Title The Cowardly Lion of Oz Author Ruth Plumly Thompson Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing 1923
	Title Grampa in Oz Author Ruth Plumly Thompson Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing 1924
	Title The Lost King of Oz Author Ruth Plumly Thompson Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title The Hungry Tiger of Oz Author Ruth Plumly Thompson Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title The Gnome King of Oz Author Ruth Plumly Thompson Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title The Giant Horse of Oz Author Ruth Plumly Thompson Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz Author Ruth Plumly Thompson Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title The Yellow Knight of Oz Author Ruth Plumly Thompson Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title Pirates in Oz Author Ruth Plumly Thompson Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title The Purple Prince of Oz Author Ruth Plumly Thompson Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title Ojo in Oz Author Ruth Plumly Thompson Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title Speedy in Oz Author Ruth Plumly Thompson Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title The Wishing Horse of Oz Author Ruth Plumly Thompson Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title Captain Salt in Oz Author Ruth Plumly Thompson Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title Handy Mandy in Oz Author Ruth Plumly Thompson Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title The Silver Princess in Oz Author Ruth Plumly Thompson Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title Ozoplaning With the Wizard of Oz Author Ruth Plumly Thompson Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title The Wonder City of Oz Author John R. Neill Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title The Scalawagons of Oz Author RJohn R. Neill Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title Lucky Bucky in Oz Author John R. Neill Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title The Magical Mimics in Oz Author Jack Snow Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title The Shaggy Man of Oz Author Jack Snow Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title The Hidden Valley of Oz Author Rachel R. Cosgrove Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title Merry Go Round in Oz Author Eloise Jarvis McGraw Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title Yankee in Oz Author Ruth Plumly Thompson Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title The Enchanted Island of Oz Author Ruth Plumly Thompson Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title The Forbidden Fountain of Oz Author Eloise Jarvis McGraw Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title The Ozmapolitan of Oz Author Dick Martin Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title The Wicked Witch of Oz Author Rachel Cosgrove Payes Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title The Runaway in Oz Author John R. Neill Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title The Rundelstone of Oz Author Eloise Jarvis McGraw Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title The Emerald Wand of Oz Author Sherwood Smith Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title Trouble Under Oz Author Sherwood Smith Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title Adventures in Oz Author Eric Shanower Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title Sky Pyrates Over Oz Author Sherwood Smith Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Category Children Warnings None Main Characters All the originals with too many more to list Main Elements Wizards, witches, anthropomorphism, and all kinds of bizarre creatures Website ---

The Royal Book of Oz

Kabumpo in Oz

The Cowardly Lion of Oz

Grampa in Oz

I'm not sure why I kept reading these other than the fact that once I got started, I didn't stop till I could no longer find free copies (generally on Project Gutenberg). Besides, I was a little curious if the books by other authors would differ much, though they were written shortly after Baum himself stopped.

Turns out they are very similar, with a lot of oddball creatures and characters, and generally all-round rude and unpleasant people, just as in the original series where even people that were supposedly friends kept trying to put the others down becaused they were so much more special since they had brains, or a heart, or whatever. If my friend kept telling me I was inferior because I was made of meat, I probably wouldn't stay that person's friend.

And it wasn't like we needed to add more characters. In the Cowardly Lion of Oz we get a clown and an orphan...oooh, how I hated the clown, he was an idiot which considering he was supposed to be an adult just annoyed me more. And then there is Grampa...who is apparently no one's Grampa but is rather an old soldier with a fake leg, a "game leg"...yes, he can unfold his fake leg and you can play games on it, and that's keeping in mind we already have a character with a wooden leg. Xanth clearly was not the first to play with really, really groan-worthy puns.

And how big is this Oz place? How many weird and strange kingdoms can we run into? Why not ever revisit a place we've been before? In fact just these four books crammed in so many new towns and villages and countries that the characters could only spend the briefest time in each, almost like there was a competition to see how many silly things one could cram into the books. It didn't make me excited to find another new land to explore, it was just another to get through and move on and forget it ever happened.

And yes, these books have moments of racism, the Chinese stereotypes in The Royal Book of Oz (while they were not actually Chinese they were clearly meant to be Chinese) made me cringe. I know, these books are old and people didn't worry about such things, but it was a very negative portrayal. Mind, as I mentioned above, I think most characters have rather negative portrayals, being arrogant, rude, selfish and mean...and those are the good guys! It's the cruelty of children towards anything different all around.

Though, the half-lion in The Cowardly Lion of Oz actually sorta made me smile, gross though the idea was.

Knowing me, I'll probably keep reading them if I can find them for free on my e-reader. I have this urge to complete series I start and since I'm four into this one already I'll probably keep right on going.