It finally happened: Aunt Em and Uncle Henry lost the farm. With nowhere else to go, Dorothy asks Ozma to take them in, and Ozma readily agrees. Dorothy takes her aunt and uncle for a tour of Oz and its unique towns, employing Baum's best trick of the Road Trip to Gawk at Other Cultures. While that's happening, though, the Nome King is planning an attack on Oz, to take over, retrieve his magic belt, and enslave all the people. 
 Julian was bitterly disappointed to find that the day was NOT saved by the Shaggy Man's Love Magnet hanging over the gate to the Emerald City (and I'm bummed too; that was a great observation and connection from a five-year-old), but rather by a convenient deus ex machina. (though to be fair, is there any other kind?) I don't buy that the tens of thousands of soldiers could all be affected by said contrivance, but Oz books aren't really about obeying natural laws or human psychology. 
 Enjoyed this one, though we did have some Teachable Moments in reading it, primarily conversations about poverty (losing the Kansas farm) and entitlement (Dorothy complaining that the bread village only have her a stale crust wheelbarrow, a waffle fence, and a cracker doormat to eat instead of a freshly baked bun person, because Dorothy is a little brat who thinks the entirety of Oz is for her consumption and/or amusement).