Publisher's Synopsis
Betsy Bobbin, a girl from Oklahoma, is shipwrecked with Hank the Mule in the Rose Kingdom. There she encounters the Shaggy Man, who has just learned his brother has been lost for 10 years and is probably a prisoner of the Nome King, as well as the Rose Princess who is cast out by her subjects. Meanwhile, Queen Ann of Oogaboo (the tiniest kingdom in Oz, at the northern tip of the Land of the Winkies) has decided to conquer the world, and goes on the march with an army of 4 Generals, 4 Colonels, 4 Majors, 4 Captains, and 1 Private -- Jo Files. Glinda magically transports them out of Oz where they pose no threat, and the characters all converge on the caves of the Nome King, Ruggedo (formerly known as Roquat). Tik-Tok also shows up, and becomes Queen Ann's army after Private Files falls in love with the Rose Princess and resigns his commission. Polychrome, the Rainbow's Daughter, returns from the fifth Oz book as well. The Nome King drops the whole crowd down the giant Hollow Tube to the other side of the Earth, which has been strictly forbidden by the Great Jinjin, Tititi-Hoochoo, so he returns them aboard the young dragon Quox (only 3,056 years old!) to punish Ruggedo. Although almost none of this 1914 book takes place within Oz, Baum's plotting has gotten stronger and continues to improve from here.
