In which Lucky Bucky from New York is blown off his tugboat while passing the Statue of Liberty. He lands in the Dough-Minions of the Biscuit Shooter - little doughmen that live in a volcano made of dough and they back all day! Lucky Bucky meets a huge wooden whale who has a cabin inside of him! They decide to set out to visit the Land of Oz. But the Pie-Rats attack! They also go over the rainbow, causing the rainbow to bend under Davy's weight! Meanwhile in Oz, Ozma and the Wizard invent the CWO (Castle Walls of Oz) Painter's Project where people paint famous Oz scenes on the castle walls! But the Wizard mixes up the magical paint and anything that is painted comes to life! Kabumpo and Ojo draw a picture of the Elegant Elephant and Jack Pumpkinhead and the SawHorse draw Mombi (uh-oh!) the Wicked Witch of the North who suddenly comes to life and takes off with other wicked witches. (Good thing they didn't paint old Ruggedo or the Witch of the West). Anyway, Mombi meets Davy Jones and hides from Lucky Bucky. So they get the Scalawagons ready so they can search for her!
Many fun and dangerous adventures are in store for Bucky and Davy, Dollfins, Zerons, Jack Pott, Police-Pin, Thunder Bugs, Rainbows and Gnomes! They are splashed about by Neptune the seaking and visit Kaliko the Gnome King! But he has such a temper, that Bucky is almost destroyed! But, Number Nine the WIzard of Oz's assistant saves him! They meet Polychrome the Rainbow's Daughter who no one has seen since Thompson's THE PURPLE PRINCE IN OZ. This book is full of fun, with evil witches, loose Scalawagons, bad Gnomes etc.
LUCKY BUCKY IN OZ was first published in 1942 and is the last official book that was written by John R. Niell. It is by far the best Oz book by Niell. But there are flaws.
While Jack Pumpkinhead was painting Mombi, John says that Jack had to scrub potatoes for her for 7 years!
Niell's illustrations were by now getting a little coarse, due to his old age.
John R. Niell died in 1943. This was the last Oz book to be illustrated by him. He had illustratied 36 Oz book by Ruth Plumly Thompson, L. Frank Baum and himself. What a lot! He had one more manuscript, THE RUNAWAY IN OZ, which was published in 1995. (It was left so long because World War II delayed its publishing) I loved his art, and he really made Oz a wonderful country with his beautiful colour plates and black-and-white illustrations.
