The Royal Book of Oz

Abstract

The Royal Book of Oz (published in 1921) is the fifteenth in the series of Oz books, and the first to be written after L. Frank Baum's death. Although Baum was credited as the author, it was written entirely by Ruth Plumly Thompson. Supposedly based on Baum's surviving notes, known as "An Oz Book" are known from four typewritten pages found at his publisher's, but their authenticity as Baum's work has been disputed. In this novel the Scarecrow discovers that, in a previous incarnation, he was human. More specifically, he was the Emperor of the Silver Islands, a kingdom located deep underground beneath the Munchkin region of Oz, inhabited by people who resemble Chinese people.