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Percy is a giant white laboratory rat.

Description[]

He habitually calls himself "the personality kid," and talks like a street-smart American wise guy. (He calls everyone else "kiddo.")

History[]

Percy was originally from Ohio. He came to the Land of Oz with Jam and once in Oz he acquired the power of speech.

Accompanying Jam on his travels and adventures, Percy grew to ten times his normal size by eating a magic muffin. He proved to be enterprising and resourceful. When Ozma sent Jam back home, Percy remained in Oz and got the Wizard to enchant him into his new large size permanently. (The Hidden Valley of Oz)

Book appearances[]

Background[]

Rachel Cosgrove called Percy from The Hidden Valley of Oz one of her favorite characters, and proved it by using him repeatedly in her Oz works. Percy has a major role in Cosgrove's other Oz-related book, The Wicked Witch of Oz, and returns again in her short story "Percy and the Shrinking Violet."

The expression "kiddo" did not appear in Cosgrove's manuscript of Hidden Valley, but was added in by an editor who felt the slang helped make the story more relevant in 1951. Cosgrove disliked the addition at first, but warmed to it and repeated it in the succeeding two Percy stories.

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