The Wishing Horse of Oz
Encyclopedia
1935 in literature
The year 1935 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* June 15 - W. H. Auden enters a marriage of convenience with Erika Mann.* July 30 - Allen Lane founds Penguin Books to publish the first mass market paperbacks in Britain....
) is the twenty-ninth 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 fifteenth 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...
. This book marked the point at which Thompson had written more Oz books than Baum himself.
This 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...
mystery starts in Skampavia, where King Skamperoo wishes for a horse using enchanted emerald necklaces. When Chalk, the Wishing Horse of Oz, falls from the sky, Skamperoo decides the emeralds must be from the Emerald City
Emerald City
The Emerald City is the fictional capital city of the Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum's Oz books, first described in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
, and decides to conquer all of Oz. He magically causes all the residents of Oz to forget their rightful rulers and accept him as their emperor instead. Only Dorothy and Pigasus, the flying pig, are able to remember Princess Ozma, the true ruler of Oz, and together they set out to rescue her.
This was the last Oz book to feature illustrations in color, and only the first edition has them.
A copy of The Wishing Horse of Oz is shown in Martha Coolidge
Martha Coolidge
Martha Coolidge is an American film director and former President of the Directors Guild of America. -Career:Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Ms. Coolidge first made her reputation by directing many award winning documentaries in New York before moving out to Hollywood in 1976. She spent several...
's film, Rambling Rose
Rambling Rose (film)
Rambling Rose is a 1991 American film set in Georgia during the Great Depression starring Laura Dern, Diane Ladd and Robert Duvall, directed by Martha Coolidge....
.