Dorothy and the Magic Belt is an Oz book for younger readers, written by Susan Saunders and illustrated by David Rose. It was published in 1985 and has eight chapters with a total of 64 pages.
It can be read online with an account at the Internet Archive.
Plot[]
The son of Dr. Nikidik simply referred to as Nik resents the fact that his father can no longer practice magic, under Princess Ozma's prohibition. He decides to vent his frustration by stealing the Magic Belt. To do so, he uses a magical 'Youthing Powder' to transform all of the people in the Emerald City into children or babies. This causes Ozma to lose her memory after turning back into Tip which causes him to now be confused on why is wearing a nightgown. Thankfully Dorothy was away galloping on the Sawhorse as Tik-Tok explains what happened. They go to the Tin Woodman's Castle where Scarecrow figures out Nikidik is involved as they head over to confront him alongside Jack Pumpkinhead.
Nik plays with the Magic Belt but becomes bored with its ability to grant things instantly and wants to learn how to perform spells so he uses it to summon Mombi. She is rather upset because she was in the middle of milking her cow who is also teleported so Nik makes her younger with the powder. This restores her ability to use magic while erasing memory of her time pertaining to Tip and Jack. Without knowing about the belt, she realizes that he is not using actual spells to perform magic which raises her suspicion.
Dorothy and friends arrive at the cave as the Tin Man demands to know where the belt is. Nik tries to use it but in doing so reveals its existence to Mombi who angrily casts a spell to command her cow (who was turned into marble during their magic practice) to charge at him. He finds out that the belt is unable to stop the cow so he simply blows the powder which incidentally transforms him and Mombi into babies with the cow being a regular calf.
Glinda arrives after riding there on the Sawhorse and explains what happened to Dr. Nikidik after Dorothy uses the belt to summon him. She offers to make his son older, but he declines noting the opportunity to raise him again properly. He also gets their approval of adopting the child Mombi as his daughter. With this, Dorothy uses the magic belt to restore all the adults to their ages and forms before she returns to Kansas.
Chapter List[]
- An Unexpected Trip
- A Family Business
- The Purple Cloud
- Dorothy Goes For Help
- Tik-Tok's Clue
- Nikidik's Second Big Mistake
- Two Big Babies
- Home To Kansas
Trivia[]
- The story seems to take place before Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz with the Wizard himself being absent.
- Instead of only one wish a day, the Magic belt can now grant multiple wishes.
- Aunt Em and Uncle Henry realize that Oz is real after Dorothy disappears in front of them while a letter from Ozma appears shortly after. This is different than being teleported there in The Emerald City of Oz which wasn't public domain until a year later.
- The idea of Mombi losing her memory and restarting to possibly become good also happens in The Oz Kids episode The Return of Mombi.
- Per this narrative, it presumably reverts The Lost King of Oz as the five books could only use Baum's early material.
| Random House's Brand New Oz Adventures |
| 1. Dorothy and the Magic Belt 2. Dorothy and the Seven-Leaf Clover 3. Mister Tinker in Oz 4. Ozma and the Wayward Wand 5. Dorothy and Old King Crow |