Ruth Plumly Thompson

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Ruth Plumly Thompson (1891-1976) 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.

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 inhabits 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 contraversially, 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

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

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).

Most of these books are still copyright and cannot be reproduced online. Some, however, are available at Project Gutenburg: [link]

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