Ruth Plumly Thompson wrote seven 'Oz' books before 'The Giant Horse of Oz' and, even though I'd enjoyed a lot of what she did in them, that's been my favourite ever since I read it because it told a single consistent story and stuck with it all the way. I'm very happy to see that she continued in that vein with this next book and, in fact, focused all the more. Once again, there's only one story in play and Peter and Jack are the only characters we've met before who persevere through it. If you're waiting for all the old favourites, they'll show up by the end. Don't worry.

Jack, of course, is Jack Pumpkinhead of the title and, if we've forgotten who he is and the part he played in the history of Oz, because it's been a full quarter of a century since 'The Marvelous Land of Oz', Thompson is happy to provide us with a sizeable recap of that book to refresh us. He hasn't been a major player since, but he's appeared in a number of other books. We first saw his pumpkin shaped house in 'The Road to Oz' and he designed the corn-shaped mansion for the Scarecrow in 'The Emerald City of Oz'. Those were books two, five and six.

Peter, on the other hand, has only appeared once and much more recently, in book twenty-seven, 'The Gnome King of Oz'. He's the boy from Philadelphia who's whisked off from Philadelphia to Oz underneath a green balloon. He was the first boy to lead an 'Oz' book, as all the previous humans to take that role had been girls. He's also the first such to have read an 'Oz' book before going to Oz, so he had something of a head start on the others. He's not the most characterful lead we've seen thus far, but he's memorable enough.

At the end of 'The Gnome King of Oz', he asked to be sent back to Philadelphia and Ozma obliged, leaving him with two sacks of pirate's gold. Now we learn that he and his grandfather had a lot of fun spending one but put the other in the bank for when he grows up and goes to college. So, he's a smart kid. He's enjoying life back home but he also wonders how everyone's getting along. That becomes a wish while he's tossing a single gold piece that they apparently missed in the sacks and boom, he's in Jack Pumpkinhead's front yard.

After that long recap, the pair set off for the Emerald City, but somehow promptly get lost in the red of Quadling country. That's a red door they suddenly see facing them and, going through only sends them down a slide to Chimneyville. At this point, everything is purely episodic. They have to deal with the Smokies who live there and when they fog the place up, Peter lights a candle to put inside Jack's head, transforming him from Jack Pumpkinhead to Jack O'Lantern.

Yes, there's good wordplay here early on. I particularly like the Goody Shop that sells, well, goods: Good News, Good Advice and Good Intentions; Good Riddance, Good Tempers and Good Times. The latter may need a special licence, I would think, but that would make this a very different episode in the annals of Oz history! Anyway, the Goody Shop plays no part whatsoever in proceedings, just an excuse to have fun with words. Similarly, Chimneyville is just a stop on the way, and the attack by chimney tree follows suit. However, Scare City, a neat pun of a name that oddly isn't riffed on, introduces something that becomes important later and that trend happily continues.

Scare City is a sort of Hallowe'en Town, led by King Harum Scarum VII, who promptly scares them with big words, but Peter catches up all the Scares and the Fraid Cats with the sack that formerly held pirate's gold. Apparently, it was a grab bag all along! That's the first magic item in the book that they collect but the second they identify, because they found the Red Jinn's dinner bell in a cave on the way to Scare City. Ring that and food will arrive instantly. It's a fantastic magic item! There are two more to come too because parts of this are phrased rather like old school dungeon crawling, even though this was 1929 and Gary Gygax wouldn't even be born for another nine years.

After Scare City, they pick up a companion, a red stone Griffin, who they free from his chains. Well, he was a Griffin, but he's lost his Grr, so now he's just an Iffin. And a philosopher, but that doesn't play a huge part in proceedings. His name is Snif and he'll be happy to serve them for seven years. He's a good companion and he's huge so can easily carry them on his back, even when they bulk up to four with Baron Belfayger of Bourne. They find him on the next stop, because Snif comes from the Land of the Barons and that's where he takes them first.

And so to the core story. Belfayger is a good baron and he's about to marry Shirley Sunshine, who is, of course, a princess. However, as they arrive, things are going rather pear shaped. Mogodare the Mighty has stolen Princess Shirley away to Baffleburg to wed her himself and Belfayger has a red beard that's constantly growing at ludicrous speed, courtesy of a bad spell from his miserable mesmerizer. Shifting to Mogodare's point of view for a moment, the princess delays the wedding she doesn't want by playing to the baron's grotesque sense of importance but that unfortunately prompts him to decide to invade the Emerald City and upgrade to king.

And so we go. We learn a lot of things at this point. We learn that a long and constantly growing beard is actually incredibly useful. You can use it to cross gorges, climb up rock faces, even tie up guards. It's almost like Douglas Adams's towel, but there are no Ravenous Bugblatter Beasts of Traal here to test out that theory. We also learn what goes on in Swing City with King Hi-Swinger and Queen Tip Toppsy the Tenth. I hesitate to even mention it because it's completely not what you're imagining right now! You should all get your minds out of the gutter!

And we learn that there's a Forbidden Flagon that Mogodore and his people keep incredibly safe, because using it would be devastating to them in ways we're not told. Patience, young padawan! Of course, it's promptly added to Peter and Jack's inventory, as is a sauce box that insults people. I wouldn't mind one of those either but the dinner bell would be my choice of these magic items without a doubt. We do get to meet the Red Jinn, but we never learn why he's apparently able to use magic without contravening Ozma's prohibition on its use in Oz. That law has been ignored so much and so consistently that it really ought to be repealed.

Before long, we even learn why the book is called Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz when he's only one of a team at this point. In an attempt to use the grab bag to save the Emerald City, Peter is swallowed by it, along with Snif and Belfayger, so it's suddenly down to Jack to get to the Emerald City ahead of Mogodare and his army so that Ozma can presumably put everything to rights. It isn't quite as simple as all that, as you'll no doubt be expecting, but the story is very much in motion and I must happily say that it stays on course until the finalé.

I will mention, because I already have, that Jack and Peter are the only two characters we've met before who play any part in this story, at least up until chapter seventeen of twenty-one. At that point we rekindle our acquaintance with pretty much everybody else we've met before, right the way down to Unc Nunkie and the Soldier with the Green Whiskers. If there's a character we want to see happily playing games outside the palace but don't, then they're likely to be just round the corner waiting for their moment to join the fray. Even Toto gets a moment in the spotlight!

So this is a fun book, not as substantial as 'The Giant Horse of Oz' but even more focused and just as dedicated to flowing forward until its natural conclusion. I do like that. Given that Thompson's patented wordplay is still very evident, with a few wonderful highlights, it seems as if she's fixed all the worst aspects of her books thus far but kept all the best ones. That's as close to what I had wished for after first encountering her writing in 'The Royal Book of Oz' that I'm happy as a clam going into her tenth novel next month. See you then for 'The Yellow Knight of Oz'. ~~ Hal C F Astell

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