While reading the original Famous Forty Oz books, take a sip of Oz-ade (or some of the Wizard's liquid courage that he gave the Cowardly Lion) every time:
- L. Frank Baum begs the readers to let him write something else besides Oz books in the introduction.
- The author/Royal Historian thanks readers for their letters.
- The author/Royal Historian claims to have recently learned exciting news from Oz which will serve as material for next year's Oz book.
- There's a Road Trip Plot.
- The plot involves someone from the outside world coming to Oz.
- The plot starts off with some new characters we have never heard of before in a previous book.
- The plot involves a new previously-unmentioned small kingdom in Oz.
- The characters encounter a Wacky Wayside Tribe.
- Finish the rest of your drink if the tribe ever gets mentioned in the book again after the end of the chapter they appear in.
- A chapter seems to be just Filler and has no bearing on the overall plot.
- Several chapters in the author suddenly starts a new, seemingly unrelated subplot that will tie in to the main plot later.
- A paragraph is dedicated to how beautiful/perfect/loved by everyone Princess Ozma is.
- There is homosexual subtext between the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman, Dorothy and Ozma, or any other two characters.
- Someone gets transformed into something against their will.
- We get section of a chapter dedicated to continuity and Worldbuilding.
- Two sips when that section contradicts what was established in an earlier book.
- Someone violates Oz's Ban on Magic.
- Someone is referred to as "gay" or "queer".
- Someone crosses the supposedly uncrossable Deadly Desert.
- Someone invades Oz, either from the outside or from within.
- The severe lack of security at the Emerald Palace makes the villain's conquest, kidnapping, or theft of Oz's magical artifacts all too easy.
- An illustration contradicts the text.
- Ozma looks older or younger than she did in the previous illustration.
- A young male looks androgynous in one of John R. Neill's illustrations.
- Something politically incorrect or downright racist happens in a Ruth Plumly Thompson book.
- Whenever there's pun-based humor (be especially careful with this one if it's a Thompson book, you may be "over the rainbow" by chapter 2).
- A canonical or characterization detail in Thompson’s books goes completely against Baum’s books (i.e. Ozma isn’t a pacifist, Munchkin Country being in the west, Ozians eating meat, etc.)
- A character who is generally nice acts needlessly cruel towards someone who makes puns, or a musician for that matter (the Musicker and the Phonograph).
- An inanimate object is brought to life or was already alive when it appears in the story.
- The Glass Cat draws attention to her brains and says "you can see 'em work".
- The Patchwork Girl says a rhyme or short poem.
- Button-Bright says "Don't know."
- Ojo refers to himself as unlucky, or lucky in later books.
- Baum crosses over characters from his other fantasy books.
- There's a quickly-summarized Boring Return Journey at the end of the book.
- The character that the book is named after doesn't actually appear until several chapters in.
- The character's problems are solved by some form of Deus ex Machina.
