Ruth Plumly Thompson

Ruth Plumly Thompson (July 27, 1891-April 6, 1976) was an American writer of children's stories. She is best known for continuing the children's fantasy Land of Oz series after L. Frank Baum died in 1919.

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 sold stories to newspapers and magazines. Between 1921 and 1939, she wrote one Oz book a year. They were all illustrated by John R. Neill, who had also illustrated Baum's Oz books, except for the first one, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz".

Thompson's contributions to the Oz series are lively and imaginative, featuring a wide range of colorful and unusual characters. However, one particular theme repeats over and over throughout her novels, with little variation. Typically in each of Thompson's Oz novels, a child (usually from America) and a supernatural companion (usually a talking animal), while traveling through Oz or one of the neighboring regions, find themselves in an obscure community where the inhabitants engage in a single activity. The inhabitants of this community then capture the travelers, and force them to participate in this same activity. Another major theme has elderly characters, most controversially, the Good Witch of the North, being restored to "marriageable" age, possibly because Thompson herself never married. She had a greater tendency toward the use of romantic love stories (which Baum usually avoided in his fairy tales, with about 4 exceptions), and characters such as the athletic Peter Brown gave a "boy's own" quality to some of her Oz books. She emphasized humor to a greater extent than Baum did, and always considered her work for children, whereas Baum saw no such restrictions on his intended audience.

Oz books by Thompson

*1921 — "The Royal Book of Oz"
*1922 — "Kabumpo in Oz"
*1923 — "The Cowardly Lion of Oz"
*1924 — "Grampa in Oz"
*1925 — "The Lost King of Oz"
*1926 — "The Hungry Tiger of Oz"
*1927 — "The Gnome King of Oz"
*1928 — "The Giant Horse of Oz"
*1929 — "Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz"
*1930 — "The Yellow Knight of Oz"
*1931 — "Pirates in Oz"
*1932 — "The Purple Prince of Oz"
*1933 — "Ojo in Oz"
*1934 — "Speedy in Oz"
*1935 — "The Wishing Horse of Oz"
*1936 — "Captain Salt in Oz"
*1937 — "Handy Mandy in Oz"
*1938 — "The Silver Princess in Oz"
*1939 — "Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz"
*1971 — "Yankee in Oz"
*1976 — "The Enchanted Island of Oz"

Followed by:
*"The Wonder City of Oz
*"The Scalawagons of Oz
*"Lucky Bucky in Oz"
*"The Magical Mimics in Oz"
*"The Shaggy Man of Oz"
*"The Hidden Valley of Oz"
*"Merry Go Round in Oz"

Non-Oz books by Thompson

*"The Perhappsy Chaps"
*"The Princess of Cozytown"
*"The Curious Cruise of Captain Santa"
*"The Wizard of Way-Up and Other Wonders"
*"Sissajig and Other Surprises"
*"King Kojo" illus. Marge, publ.Donald MacKay (1938).

Thompson resigned from writing Oz books in 1939 and John R. Neill took over, writing three until his death in 1942. Thompson later wrote two more Oz books, which are typically considered non-canon: "Yankee in Oz" (1972) and "The Enchanted Island of Oz" (1976). The books were primarily written in the 1950s and edited for publication. The latter was not originally written as an Oz book.

Most of these books are still under copyright and cannot be reproduced online. Some, however, are available at Project Gutenburg: [http://www.gutenberg.org]