Sky Island

Like The Sea Fairies, I hadn’t read this until prompted to do so by the folks at the Oz blog Burzee; unlike The Sea Fairies, I really enjoyed the experience. It feels more planned than a lot of Baum’s novels; so many of his books are about getting from Point A to Point B, and even when they’re technically not about trying to get somewhere they sort of work that in there anyway, like the excursion to the outside world in Marvelous Land or the tour of Oz in Emerald City or the various searches in Lost Princess. (Some of these do it better than others; I enjoy Marvelous Land, whereas in Emerald City the travel stuff is just a diversion from the invasion plot.) But Sky Island is very much about the governments and people of Sky Island show more in a way that makes it more focused than almost any other of Baum’s fantasies I can recollect. It’s also tremendous fun—Baum is inventive and clever and whimsical and suspenseful in just the right proportions, and what Trot has to do here actually matters, both to her group and to the people of the island.

I agree with Nick and Sarah at Burzee that Baum’s doing something political here, but I too don't know what, and I actually like that it’s hard to map on something specific; Baum’s attempts at social commentary can be heavy-handed at times, but this one is engaging. I really liked the stuff about democracy and poverty and such, and it was thought-provoking even if I didn’t quite know what he was trying to say.

I enjoyed Cap’n Bill in this one a lot, even if he was somewhat ineffectual; the way he takes charge of the military is fun even if he does end up captured ASAP. Baum always seems to have it out for militaries! (This reminded me a lot of some of the stuff in Ozma of Oz.)

The Dover edition of this book does have the color plates, for which I’m very grateful—this feels like some of Neill’s best work to me! But maybe I just think that because I actually don’t have very many Oz books that include color illustrations, so of course this one stands out. The cloud journey on the umbrella looks great, and I always like the way Neill draws Polychrome.

added May 2022:
After we finished The Sea Fairies, my son was keen that Trot and Cap'n Bill should get to Oz. I did tell him that would happen someday, but also that we would first read Sky Island, where that did not happen... but what would happen is that they would meet a couple familiar characters, specifically Button-Bright and Polychrome, both of whom originated in The Road to Oz. He remembers Button-Bright if I go "don't know," his refrain in that novel (he's aged up a bit here), and we had actually just re-encountered Polychrome in Tik-Tok of Oz (which is out of publication order but I think worked well here).

This is one of my favorite of Baum's fantasies, and it held up for me on a reread. It has a good role for Cap'n Bill, Button-Bright shows some real ingenuity, and Trot gets a great starring role in the last few chapters especially. It basically fixes everything I didn't like about The Sea Fairies. On the other hand, I'm not sure it maintained my three-year-old son's interest; it has a more complex plot than most of your Baum journey novels, and I don't think he was terrible interested in, say, whether Ghip-Ghisizzle should rule the Blue Country. We had a bit of a slowdown in the middle of the book; we started it right at the end of January, but there was a period where he very rarely wanted to read it, and so we didn't wrap up until early March.

That said, he did ask some good questions (I drew him a map to explain how the fog bank dividing Sky Island worked when we wanted to know why they didn't just go around it), and he always got a kick out of the doggerel of the talking blue parrot that barks like a dog; he also had a big reaction to when the elephant-shaped handle of Button-Bright's magic umbrella transforms into a real elephant.

The villain of Sky Island, the Boolooroo, punishes people by "patching" them: he cuts two people in half (no Blueskin can die until they are exactly six hundred years old and pass through the Arch of Phinis) and then stitches half of one to half of the other, creating two hybrids. This kind of thing is horrifying if you think about it as an adult, but just vaguely amusing to a toddler. Anyway, one day at dinner a week or so after we finished the book, he suggested that he could combine two different candies by "patching" them into one! Not a connection I expected him to make, but I was charmed.

Sky Island is rife was interesting worldbuilding, and tantalizing hints about things that are never explained, such as the Arch of Phinis, or the fog bank. I'm a bit surprised that none of the modern-day writers of Oz fan stuff, who have picked over so much of the minutiae of the original Baum novels and explained and expanded it, have (as far as I know) gone back to Sky Island and found out how it is fairing. Trot is technically, after all, still its queen! Seems like an obvious sequel hook. (EDIT: Apparently there is a short story in the 1983 issue of Oziana where Trot uses the Magic Belt to go back.)

(Incidentally, Trot must have read at least some of the Oz books because she knows about the country, but apparently Road to Oz was not one of them because she doesn't know who Button-Bright is.) show less

Sky Island is the second book in Baum's Trot & Cap'n Bill series. The first book is The Sea Fairies, and while I found Sky Island less imaginative than The Sea Fairies, I thought the story was more engaging.
It's not necessary to read the first book in order to understand the second, and if you are looking for a fun, fast paced adventure that features a strong little girl as a main character you won't be disappointed in Sky Island.

"Sky Island: Being the Further Adventures of Trot and Cap'n Bill after Their Visit to the Sea Fairies" is the sequel to Baum's "The Sea Fairies". Both books were intended to be parts of a long-running fantasy series to replace the Oz books. In "Sky Island" Trot is near her home when she meets a strange boy with a large umbrella. Button Bright has been using his family's magic umbrella to take long-range journeys from his home. The two, joined by Cap'n Bill, decide to take a trip to a nearby island but the umbrella takes them to a different place entirely.

Sky Island is the second book in Baum's Trot & Cap'n Bill series. The first book is The Sea Fairies, and while I found Sky Island less imaginative than The Sea Fairies, I thought the story was more engaging.
It's not necessary to read the first book in order to understand the second, and if you are looking for a fun, fast paced adventure that features a strong little girl as a main character you won't be disappointed in Sky Island.

Read during Summer 2007

Better than the Sea Fairies, I think because he had to create his whole new world, not based on any existing undersea world. This edition was also lovely, with color plates and all the pen and ink drawings. Thoroughly enjoyable in a million ways.

This captivating tale by the "royal historian of Oz" recounts the further adventures of a little girl named Trot and Cap'n Bill, an old sailor, after their visit to the Sea Fairies. A remarkable fairyland in sky country, Sky Island turns out to be a place that Trot, Cap'n Bill, and their friend — a little boy nicknamed Button-bright — were glad to leave after having experienced some unpleasant moments there. Transported by a magical umbrella that whisks the three travelers off to this island in the sky, they meet the six snub-nosed princesses, discover the King's treasure chamber, encounter a blue wolf, meet Tourmaline the poverty Queen and Rosalie the Witch, and eventually make the long journey home.

A little bit of Oz without actually being an Oz book. Much better than the first Captain Bill and Trot book.