Yankee in Oz - Plot Summary

Plot Summary

The story begins with Thomas P. "Tompy" Terry, an athlete and musician son of a physicist, star drummer in his marching band at Pennwood prep in fictional small town, Pennwood, Pennsylvania, swept away by then-fictitious Hurricane Hannah on his way to the Labor Day parade.

He lands on the shore of Winkie Lake, where he meets Yankee, the first American dog in space, a bull terrier delighted at his newfound ability to talk.

The nearest town is Wackajammy, in the northeastern part of the Winkie Country, which is the breadbasket of the West. The King, Jackalack, believes that Tompy and Yankee are there to fulfill a prophecy to rescue their princess, his aunt, Doffi, who instructs all of the bakers of the town, who refuse to do any work without her present. Yammer Jammer, the king's advizer, using a book called the Mind Reader determines that the two have no intent to do the search when they leave, and locks them in prison. Yankee is able to dig out during the night and get the key, and when they leave, they steal the Mind Reader.

Though determined to get home, Yankee in particular wishes to rescue the princess anyway. They next encounter an anteater, a town of powdered and packaged workaholic people, Tidy Town, whose king wants to force them to be listeners, cross into the Gillikin Country with the aid of Tim Ber the Trav-E-Log, meet a kindly but private woodsman named Axel, and a village of pleasant people with cold light paper lanterns for heads who are active only at night.

Climbing Mount Upandup, they meet a flower fairy named Su-Posy who mentions that she delivers flowers to an imprisoned princess nearby to cheer her up. Also resting on this mountain is Jinnicky the Red Jinn, with whom Tompy and Yankee make fast friends.

Also living on the mountain is Badmannah, who has kidnapped Princess doffi, and soon after, uses a magic magnifying glass to abduct Princess Ozma and the entire Emerald City palace.

Regrouping at the Red Jinn's palace, Yankee procures a net and attaches it to Jinnicky's jinrikisha as a drag net, using it to capture Badmannah and lower him to the bottom of the Nonestic Ocean. He cannot drown here, being immortal like all Ozites, but it will get him out of the way for a while.

That leaves the task of restoring the Emerald City palace. Except for Ozma, the residents are all crammed into a magic box that Jinnicky has not allowed to be opened until the palace is restored, except when Yankee is briefly trapped as well. Once opened, Ozma is still missing. Using the Magic Picture, she is seen in Badmannah's cave, Ozma having wished herself via the Magic Belt to the nearest safe place, and with Badmannah gone, it was. Using his red magic, Jinnicky restores the Emerald City.

Jinnicky flies Tompy home in his jinrikisha, and gives him a little jar to open when in need of his magic. Yankee is recognizable from newspapers, and Mr. Terry returns him to the Army, requesting that he be given an honorable discharge to be Tompy's pet. The Army representative initially declines, but when Tompy opens the jar, relents.

Yankee retains the ability to speak once a week, and together, they decide to read The Purple Prince of Oz a chapter a night to learn about the adventures of their friend, Jinnicky.

Tompy is not the first traveler to Oz to be familiar with it from reading the books, which are explicitly referenced as being available in the United States as fairy tales--Peter Brown in The Gnome King of Oz briefly mentions having read an Oz book (Betsy Bobbin and Trot are aware of Oz before they get there, but we are not told how). It is, however the first to mention another Oz book within the text, although John R. Neill had drawn an image of a shelf in Oz full of the Oz books, one being read. The book has no subplot, and moves straightforwardly through its single plot, uncharacteristic of previous Oz books, but typical of the deuterocanonical books of which it is the first.



The Oz books
Previous book:
Merry Go Round in Oz
Yankee in Oz
1972
Next book:
The Enchanted Island of Oz


The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Oz
General
  • Land of Oz
  • Emerald City
  • Munchkin Country
  • Gillikin Country
  • Winkie Country
  • Quadling Country
  • Oogaboo
  • Forest of Burzee
  • Nonestica
  • Land of Ev
  • Mo
  • Ix
  • Noland
  • Apocrypha
  • The Oz Film Manufacturing Company
Authors
  • L. Frank Baum
  • Ruth Plumly Thompson
  • John R. Neill
  • Jack Snow
  • Rachel Cosgrove Payes
  • Eloise Jarvis McGraw
  • Alexander Volkov
  • Gregory Maguire
  • Sherwood Smith
Illustrators
  • William Wallace Denslow
  • John R. Neill
  • Frank Kramer
  • Dirk Gringhuis
  • Dick Martin
  • Eric Shanower
  • William Stout
  • Evelyn Copelman
Composers
  • Paul Tietjens
  • Nathaniel D. Mann
  • Frederic Chapin
  • Louis F. Gottschalk
Characters
  • Dorothy Gale
  • Toto
  • Princess Ozma
  • The Wizard of Oz
  • Scarecrow
  • Tin Woodman
  • Cowardly Lion
  • Jack Pumpkinhead
  • Tik-Tok
  • The Sawhorse
  • Trot
  • Hungry Tiger
  • Good Witch of the North
  • Glinda, the Good Witch of the South
  • Wicked Witch of the West (Elphaba)
  • Wicked Witch of the East (Nessarose)
  • Aunt Em
  • Uncle Henry
  • Betsy Bobbin
  • Billina
  • Boq
  • Button-Bright
  • Cap'n Bill
  • Eureka
  • Gillikins
  • Herby
  • Jellia Jamb
  • Jenny Jump
  • Jinjur
  • Jinnicky the Red Jinn
  • John Dough
  • Kabumpo
  • Knook
  • Munchkins
  • Nome King
  • Mombi
  • Ojo the Lucky
  • Pastoria
  • Patchwork Girl
  • Peter Brown
  • Pigasus
  • Polychrome
  • Quadlings
  • Queen Lurline
  • Ryl
  • Shaggy Man
  • Soldier with the Green Whiskers
  • Winged monkeys
  • Woggle-Bug
Canonical Books
  • The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
  • The Marvelous Land of Oz
  • Ozma of Oz
  • Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz
  • The Road to Oz
  • The Emerald City of Oz
  • The Patchwork Girl of Oz
  • Tik-Tok of Oz
  • The Scarecrow of Oz
  • Rinkitink in Oz
  • The Lost Princess of Oz
  • The Tin Woodman of Oz
  • The Magic of Oz
  • Glinda of Oz
  • The Royal Book of Oz
  • Kabumpo in Oz
  • The Cowardly Lion of Oz
  • Grampa in Oz
  • The Lost King of Oz
  • The Hungry Tiger of Oz
  • The Gnome King of Oz
  • The Giant Horse of Oz
  • Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz
  • The Yellow Knight of Oz
  • Pirates in Oz
  • The Purple Prince of Oz
  • Ojo in Oz
  • Speedy in Oz
  • The Wishing Horse of Oz
  • Captain Salt in Oz
  • Handy Mandy in Oz
  • The Silver Princess in Oz
  • Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz
  • 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
  • The Emerald Wand of Oz
  • Trouble Under Oz
Adaptations
Films
  • The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays (1908)
  • The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910)
  • Dorothy and the Scarecrow in Oz (1910)
  • The Land of Oz (1910)
  • John Dough and the Cherub (1910)
  • The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914)
  • The Magic Cloak of Oz (1914)
  • His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz (1914)
  • Wizard of Oz (1925)
  • The Wizard of Oz (1933)
  • The Wizard of Oz (1939)
  • The Wonderful Land of Oz (1969)
  • Ayşecik ve Sihirli Cüceler Rüyalar Ülkesinde (1971)
  • Journey Back to Oz (1974)
  • The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1975)
  • The Wiz (1978)
  • The Wizard of Oz (1982)
  • Return to Oz (1985)
  • Dorothy Meets Ozma of Oz (1987)
  • The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story (1990)
  • The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (2005)
  • Strawberry Shortcake: Berry Brick Road (2006)
  • Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz (2011)
  • Dorothy and the Witches of Oz (2011)
  • Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)
  • Dorothy of Oz (2013)
Stage
  • The Wizard of Oz (1902)
  • The Woggle-Bug (1905)
  • The Tik-Tok Man of Oz (1913)
  • The Wizard of Oz (1942)
  • The Wiz (1974)
  • The Marvelous Land of Oz (1981)
  • The Wizard of Oz (1987)
  • The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (2000)
  • The Wizard of Oz (2011)
Television
  • Tales of the Wizard of Oz
  • Return to Oz (1964)
  • Off to See the Wizard (1967)
  • The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1986)
  • The Wizard of Oz (1990)
  • The Oz Kids (1996)
  • Adventures in the Emerald City
  • Lost in Oz (2002)
Comics
  • Dorothy of Oz
  • The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
  • Adventures in Oz
  • Oz
  • Oz Squad
  • The Enchanted Apples of Oz
Video
games
  • The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road (2008)
  • Emerald City Confidential (2009)
Parodies
  • The Wozard of Iz
  • Os Trapalhões e o Mágico de Oróz
  • The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's
  • Wizard of Odd
Reimagining
  • The Wizard of Mars (1965)
  • Hunter (1973)
  • Zardoz (1974)
  • Oz (1976)
  • A Barnstormer in Oz (1982)
  • The Wizard of A.I.D.S. (1987)
  • The Wonderful Galaxy of Oz (1990)
  • Twister (1994)
  • The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997)
  • Tin Man (2007)
The Wicked
Years
  • Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
  • Son of a Witch
  • A Lion Among Men
  • Out of Oz
  • Wicked (musical)
  • Characters

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