Queen Zixi of Ix

By L. Frank Baum

Queen Zixi of Ix, or The Story of the Magic Cloak is a children's book written by L. Frank Baum. It was originally serialized in the early 20th-century American children's magazine St. Nicholas from November 1904 to October 1905, and was published in book form later in 1905 by The Century Company. The events of the book alternate between Noland and Ix, two neighboring regions to the Land of Oz, and Baum himself commented this was the best book he had written. In a letter to his eldest son, Frank Joslyn Baum, he said it was "nearer to the 'old-fashioned' fairy tale than anything I have yet accomplished," and in many respects, it adheres more closely to the fairy tale structure than the Oz books. Although Oz remains the more popular region, many readers have held that Queen Zixi of Ix is a better book than The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Start Classics
• Release date: Dec 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781627938471

L. Frank Baum

Lyman Frank Baum (1856–1919) was an American children’s book author, best known for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. He wrote thirteen novel sequels, nine other fantasy novels, and several other works (55 novels in total, plus four "lost" novels, 83 short stories, over 200 poems, an unknown number of scripts, and many miscellaneous writings).

Reviews for Queen Zixi of Ix

[niquetteb · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An enchanted cloak is woven by fairies and given to a poor orphan girl. The fantastical adventures and oddities that surround the cloak take flight throughout the story.

[cassiewinters-2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

have been a fan of Baum's Oz series for a long time, so I decided it was about time to give some of his other works a chance. I found that my university had a copy of this particular book, so I checked it out. It was a rather interesting read because I realized I was so familiar with the characters of Oz that I was expecting for them to show up, but they never did. I applaud Baum for creating another world, even if it was never as popular as Oz. He creates a wonderful children's story here that has the exact charm as any of his stories about Oz. He truly is a wonderful writer and can drag you into the nonsense that he creates for these worlds with almost no effort.

[chazzifrazz · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

L. Frank Baum is well known for his book “The Wizard of Oz” and other books in the series.The fairy tale takes place in the kingdom of Noland, next to the Kingdom of Ix. It is a tale of a boy who becomes king of Noland under unusual circumstance. He isn’t prepared for it, as he comes from a poor family and little education.There is a magic wishing cloak, the Queen Zixi who wants the cloak, five high counselors – Tullydub, Tollydob, Tillydib, Tallydab and Tellydeb, the king’s valet Jikki, Aunt Rivette and more colourful and unusual characters. It is a fairy tale to the nth degree. Adventure, magic, comedy and more are found as you read.What sets it off are the 90 illustrations from the original first publishing of the story. The story was serialized between 1904-1905 and the drawings were done for the serial. They are in black and white with much detail.

[ericpatterson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

have been a fan of Baum's Oz series for a long time, so I decided it was about time to give some of his other works a chance. I found that my university had a copy of this particular book, so I checked it out. It was a rather interesting read because I realized I was so familiar with the characters of Oz that I was expecting for them to show up, but they never did. I applaud Baum for creating another world, even if it was never as popular as Oz. He creates a wonderful children's story here that has the exact charm as any of his stories about Oz. He truly is a wonderful writer and can drag you into the nonsense that he creates for these worlds with almost no effort.

[soulflower1981 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have been a fan of Baum's Oz series for a long time, so I decided it was about time to give some of his other works a chance. I found that my university had a copy of this particular book, so I checked it out. It was a rather interesting read because I realized I was so familiar with the characters of Oz that I was expecting for them to show up, but they never did. I applaud Baum for creating another world, even if it was never as popular as Oz. He creates a wonderful children's story here that has the exact charm as any of his stories about Oz. He truly is a wonderful writer and can drag you into the nonsense that he creates for these worlds with almost no effort.

[drbubbles_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I don't know what it is about Edwardian children's literature. As a child I enjoyed all of the examples I read (so far as I can remember); re-reading them as an adult, I find them unpleasantly preposterous, stuffy, or preachy. The examples I've read newly as an adult are about evenly split between pleasant and unpleasant.Zixi is about ¹/₃ pleasant and ²/₃ unpleasant, the latter because it is preposterous and slightly preachy. The preposterousness is astounding: certain spherical villains at one point have arms long enough to capture people, and three paragraphs later have arms barely long enough for them to fold their own hands. Had Baum no respect for children's ability to think? There's a fair amount of deus ex machina, too.