Aunt Jane's Nieces and Uncle John
First edition
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| Author |
L. Frank Baum (as "Edith Van Dyne") |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Emile A. Nelson |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Aunt Jane's Nieces |
| Genre |
Young adult fiction Travel literature Melodrama |
| Publisher | Reilly & Britton |
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Publication date
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1911 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 275 pp. |
| Preceded by | Aunt Jane's Nieces in Society |
| Followed by | Aunt Jane's Nieces on Vacation |
Aunt Jane's Nieces and Uncle John is a young adult novel written by L. Frank Baum, famous as the creator of the Land of Oz. It is the sixth volume in the ten-book series Aunt Jane's Nieces, Baum's greatest commercial success after the Oz books themselves. Like the other books in the series, this sixth volume was issued under the pen name "Edith Van Dyne," one of Baum's multiple pseudonyms.
Unlike the Oz books and Baum's other fantasies, the Aunt Jane's Nieces stories were set in the contemporary world, and so could be enriched with the author's real-life experiences. Baum based much of the material in the sixth book on a trip that he and his wife took through the Southwestern United States in February and March 1904 — just as he had earlier relied on his 1906 trip to the Mediterranean and Egypt for his books Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad (1907) and The Last Egyptian (1908).
Aunt Jane's Nieces and Uncle John bears some noteworthy resemblances to Baum's earlier novel Annabel (1906). Both books involve a rich man and a lost child suffering in poverty; both plots depend heavily on coincidence, and both end with a nod to divine providence.
Aunt Jane's Nieces and Uncle John picks up the continuing story of the three cousins Patsy Doyle, Beth De Graf, and Louise Merrick, and their family; the plot of the book begins three days after the wedding of Louise and her fiancé Arthur Weldon, the event that concluded the fifth book in the series, Aunt Jane's Nieces in Society. The sixth novel begins, as per pattern, with the cousins' Uncle John getting an inspiration for a new adventure: in this case, the family will escape a cold New York City winter by taking a trip to Southern California, the land of "sunshine and roses." Since Louise is away on her honeymoon, she is effectively left out of the story; her place is taken by Major Doyle, Patsy's father – the first time that the Major accompanies the young people on their escapades. (The Major is relieved that Uncle John has set his fancy merely on California, and not "Timbuktu or Yucatan...Ethiopia or Hindustan....")
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