The Great Wishy Woz

Kids' Radio presents a musical fantasy written by Mandy Straussberg. At Aunt Bea's farmhouse, a girl named Dotty dreams about the white house her father has promised to build beneath the maple trees. She imagines her mother and father living there together with her and her dog, Nono. Aunt Bea gently tells her that her father has decided to move elsewhere and will not return to the family.

Dotty refuses to accept the news. Since her father made a promise, she insists that everything must somehow become right again. She goes walking with Nono and treats the painful reality like a dream from which she will eventually awaken. A tornado suddenly bears down on the farm, and Dotty races back toward the storm cellar but does not reach safety in time.

When she wakes, Dotty finds herself in a miniature country called Little Land. Its residents proudly think small, do little, and never leave. They show her two exits: a Big Fat Gate and a Wee Skinny Gate. No one knows where either leads because they are too afraid of the larger world outside.

The Fairy Oddmother arrives and directs Dotty through the Big Fat Gate along the road everyone takes. The narrow gate, she warns, changes those who follow it and fills their minds with things they should not do. She gives Dotty magical ruby-red tennis shoes and sends her to the Great Wishy Woz, who supposedly knows everything and can show her the way home. Before Dotty leaves, the fairy also warns her never to speak to a dangerous fisherman.

Dotty soon meets the fisherman anyway. He seems gentle and offers her a whistle that she will know how to use when the time comes. She accepts it but hurries onward, still trusting the Fairy Oddmother's road more than this forbidden stranger.

Along the way, Dotty and Nono find a talking mannequin named Manny Kin lying in pieces beside the road. After they restore his legs, Manny explains that his head is empty and that he is seeking the Woz for intelligence. Dotty encourages him to think better of himself, and he joins her journey in the hope of receiving some smarts.

They next rescue Metal Guy from a light pole. A wicked woman has turned him into a giant magnet and stuck him there, but Manny discovers a switch on his back that turns the magnetism off. Metal Guy is searching for love because everyone has told him that life is empty without it. He also joins the travelers.

The last companion is Mystic Mountain Lion, whose weak roar is not frightening at all. He once possessed power and hopes the Woz will restore it. His sentences come out in a tangled order, and his ideas about truth wander through everything from strawberries to birds, but the others welcome him into their growing company.

The travelers reach the Really, Really Green and Environmentally Correct City. A doorman refuses them entry because the Woz's appointments are booked for sixty-seven years. In frustration, Dotty throws one of her magic shoes, and it turns into a large pizza. The meal tempts the doorman to admit them.

Behind a booming voice and frightening appearance, the Great Wishy Woz claims he can grant every request - but only after each traveler proves worthy. He sends Manny to the Great Library for a book on philosophy, saying wisdom comes from pursuing education. Metal Guy must seek love through his own pleasure and return with a Valentine's card from the Great Shopping Mall.

Mystic Mountain Lion must seek power within himself and bring back a candle from the Great Temple of Enlightenment. Dotty must pursue her own way and obtain a compass from the Great Mapmaker. The Woz gives them only one day to complete all four tasks. Although his advice sounds strange to Dotty, her companions trust his supposed wisdom, and they hurry back to the Big Fat Road.