The novel recounts the fantastic adventures of the German boy Wilhelm Heinrich Sebastian Von Troomp, who goes by "Baron Trump". One of the first places Baron visits is the land of the toothless and nearly weightless Wind Eaters, who inflate to beach-ball size after a meal. After Wind Eaters generously host Trump, he starts a fire and the adventures of our hero and his dog begin.

Ingersoll Lockwood (1841 - 1918) was an American lawyer and writer. As a writer, he is particularly known today for his Baron Trump children's novels. However, he wrote other children's novels, as well as the dystopian novel, 1900: or; The Last President, a play, and several non-fiction works. He wrote some of his non-fiction under the pseudonym Irwin Longman.