Pirates in Oz is the twenty-fifth in the series of Oz books created by L. Frank Baum

L. Frank Baum

Lyman Frank Baum was an American author of children's books, best known for writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...

 and his successors, and the eleventh written by Ruth Plumly Thompson

Ruth Plumly Thompson

Ruth Plumly Thompson was an American writer of children's stories.-Life and work:An avid reader of Baum's books and a lifelong children's writer, Thompson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and began her writing career in 1914 when she took a job with the Philadelphia Public Ledger; she wrote...

. It was illustrated by John R. Neill

John R. Neill

John Rea Neill was a magazine and children's book illustrator primarily known for illustrating more than forty stories set in the Land of Oz, including L. Frank Baum's, Ruth Plumly Thompson's, and three of his own. His pen-and-ink drawings have become identified almost exclusively with the Oz series...

.

Peter

Peter Brown (Oz)

Peter Brown is a major character in the Oz novels of Ruth Plumly Thompson, who continued the series of Oz books after the death of their creator, L. Frank Baum...

 returns to Oz

Land of Oz

Oz is a fantasy region containing four lands under the rule of one monarch.It was first introduced in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, one of many fantasy countries that he created for his books. It achieved a popularity that none of his other works attained, and after four years, he...

 for a third time, this time with Captain Samuel Salt and his pirates on the Nonestic Ocean (which surrounds the landmass of Oz and its neighbor countries). Meanwhile, Old Ruggedo, the Gnome King is back. He had been cursed with a Silence Stone at the end of The Gnome King of Oz

The Gnome King of Oz

The Gnome King of Oz is the twenty-first in the series of Oz books created by L. Frank Baum and his successors, and the seventh by Ruth Plumly Thompson. Like nineteen of the twenty previous books, it was illustrated by John R. Neill.-The plot:...

, and decides to answer an advertisement for king of the Land of Menankypoo, whose people communicate with words that appear on their foreheads, and demand "a dumb king". He soon becomes leader of a band of pirates and rebels, and attempts once again to conquer Oz.

This is one of the few Oz books in which Ruggedo appears as a sympathetic character. The reader suffers depriviation, trials, alarming encounters, and gratifying moments of triumph and comfort, all through him. Of the two narrative threads in the book, his is the more complex and suspenseful. (The other is Peter and Captain Salt and Ato sailing around the Nonestic Ocean, visiting small islands.)

This book introduces two notable characters: Clocker, a mechanical man who is not as trustworthy as Tik-Tok

Tik-Tok

Tik-Tok is a fictional character from the Land of Oz books by L. Frank Baum. He has been termed "the prototype robot," and is widely considered to be the first robot to appear in modern literature, though that term was coined after Baum's death....

, and Pigasus, a flying pig whose riders are magically compelled to speak in rhyming jingles. Pigasus returns as a principal character in The Wishing Horse of Oz

The Wishing Horse of Oz

thumb|200px|Cover of The Wishing Horse of Oz.The Wishing Horse of Oz is the twenty-ninth in the series of Oz books created by L. Frank Baum and his successors, and the fifteenth written by Ruth Plumly Thompson. It was Illustrated by John R. Neill...

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External links

• On Pirates in Oz