The Secrets of Droon

The Secrets of Droon
Author Tony Abbott
Illustrator Tim Jessel, David Merrell, Gil Adams, Royce Fitzgerald
Cover artist Tim Jessell
Country United States
Language English
Genre Fantasy
Publisher Scholastic Inc.
Published 1999–2010
Media type Print (hardback and paperback), Audiobook
No. of books 45 (List of books)

The Secrets of Droon is a fantasy book series by Tony Abbott and cover illustration is done by Tim Jessel aimed at elementary school-age children. The first book The Hidden Staircase and Magical Carpet was published on June 1, 1999.[1] On October 1, 2010, the final book of the series: Special Edition 8: The Final Quest was released, concluding its eleven-year run.[2] The series consisting of 44 books (including Special Editions) are still published. The series was named by the American Booksellers Association among the top ten books for Harry Potter fans.[3]

An audio version of the series is available from Listening Library, an imprint of the The Random House Audio Publishing Group.

Scholastic Inc., the publisher took huge efforts to popularize the series. In the official website of the series (created by Scholastic) various innovative factors were introduced like Droon game, Droon quiz, Droon timeline, Droon songs, Droon encyclopedia, Droon map etc.

The story is about Eric, Julie, and Neal who discover an enchanted stairway in Eric's basement, which turns out to be a portal to the magical and troubled world of Droon. It's a wondrous place where adventure is always close at hand. They take the help of various adult characters.

Translations

The series has been translated by many countries to their own language and it is sold in various countries in English. The List of countries and language are:

Prologue

Long ago in the Upper World, the powerful wizard, Zara (Queen of Light), created an object that she called the Moon Medallion.In the year 1470, Queen Zara has the Medallion (still only the Silver Moon. Other parts are created by Urik, Galen, Sparr - the sons of Zara) with her on her mission to the time-traveling and magical city of Pesh. At the very same time, far down below our world, Emperor Ko (leader of the beasts) learns of Zara's great wisdom and power. He makes his way up the Dark Stair from Droon to our world. He kidnaps Zara from her tent outside Pesh, also stealing her infant son, Lord Sparr.

Ko attempts to turn the wise queen to his evil will. To keep the boy Sparr from Ko, Zara escapes from Ko's temple and creates the Fifth River and the Fountain in the coastal meadows of Western Droon. She tests it by sending the Moon Medallion up into the Upper World for her oldest son, Urik, to find, as he is trapped there, traveling through time. Sensing that the Fifth River is a success, Zara brings Sparr to the fountain to free him. But before she can, she collapses and is retaken by Ko to his palace.

After Zara's sad death there, Sparr grows up under the dominion of Emperor Ko. Through trickery, Ko curses Sparr to become a beast like himself. During the Wizard Wars, Ko is defeated. In Ko's absence, Sparr quickly grows into a wicked sorcerer. He hides out in the Dark Lands until the day when he returns with an army of Ninns. It is in this situation that Eric, Julie, Neal enter in The Hidden Stairs and the Magic Carpet, book 1 of the Droon saga.

Plot Overview

Eric Hinkle, Neal Kroger, and Julie Rubin are three friends who accidentally discover a magical world called Droon; a rainbow staircase that appears when Eric's basement closet is dark is usually how they get to Droon. There they meet Keeah, the princess of Droon who is a wizard, they also meet Galen Longbeard who is the first wizard of Droon who are trying to defend Droon against Lord Sparr, an evil sorcerer who constantly tries to destroy Keeah and the Upper World friends and take Droon for his own to rule. The time in Droon runs differently in Droon that even a whole year in Droon is not even a second in our world. This factor helps the kids very much and makes their travelling easier.

The first twelve books see Keeah, Eric, Neal, and Julie trying to find and free Keeah's mother, Queen Relna, from a curse placed on her by Witch Demither that forces her to shift shapes; she goes from being a bird, to a dragon, to a tiger, and finally a dolphin before becoming human again. The fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth books and the first special edition introduce the plot involving Zara, the Queen of Light, and her three sons: Urik, Galen, and Sparr; Zara, who was kidnapped along with Sparr by Ko, emperor of the long-lost evil Empire of Goll, and brought to Droon (as Zara and her sons were originally from the Upper World) will later become a recurringly important part of the series.

After Special Edition #1, ‘‘The Magic Escapes’’, Droon's past begins to be explored, as well as Droon's connection to the Upper World. The characters develop as well, with Eric's wizard powers (gained in Book 12, ‘‘Under the Serpent Sea’’) progressing, and Julie obtaining the powers of a wingwolf (gained in the book "The Dream Thief") - namely, to fly and shape-shift and later on her third power is revealed. In the book "The Chariot of Queen Zara" a thing happens which changes Neal's life forever. Salamandra, initially princess later Queen of shadowthorn arrives in Droon, thus marking the entry of another antagonist. But after the series goes her intention seems mostly good even though her alliance is always bought to a question. In Book 22, ‘‘The Isle of Mists’’, Sparr awakens Ko; however, in the process Sparr and his pet, the two-headed dog Kem, are aged back to being children, and become allies with Keeah and the Upper World children. In Book 28, ‘‘In the Shadow of Goll’’, Sparr is turned back into his adult self, though he remains the children's ally. He disappears through a hole in the earth to Droon's Underworld, but reappears in Special Edition #5, ‘‘Moon Magic’’, though fifty years older in Droon's future. He comes back to Droon's present to give the children and Galen his piece of the Moon Medallion, a magical artifact composed of four pieces created by Zara and her sons (Zara's Silver Moon [the pendant], Galen's Ring of Midnight, Urik's Pearl Sea, and Sparr's Twilight Star), before going off on his own journey.

Gethwing, the moon dragon who serves as Ko's lieutenant (though he has ambitions of his own), becomes the more prevalent villain, especially when Ko is thrown into a chasm with no visible bottom. In Book 33, ‘‘Flight of the Blue Serpent’’, Eric is wounded by a poisoned ice dagger intended for Galen, and is eventually manipulated by Gethwing into becoming Prince Ungast, his evil opposite. Ungast, along with Princess Neffu (Keeah's evil opposite) and Lord Sparr, returned to his younger, evil self, form Gethwing's formidable "Crown of Wizards"; it is not until Special Edition #7, ‘‘The Genie King’’, that Eric becomes himself again another thing revealed in the book is that Gethwing is immortal. Eric, pretending to still be Ungast, goes undercover to find out a secret about Gethwing that could possibly help defeat him.

List of Books

The series consists of 44 books including special edition. They are:[4]

  1. The Hidden Stairs and the Magic Carpet
  2. Journey to the Volcano Palace
  3. The Mysterious Island
  4. City in the Clouds
  5. The Great Ice Battle
  6. The Sleeping Giant of Goll
  7. Into the Land of the Lost
  8. The Golden Wasp
  9. The Tower of the Elf King
  10. Quest for the Queen
  11. The Hawk Bandits of Tarkoom
  12. Under the Serpent Sea
  13. The Mask of Maliban
  14. Voyage of the Jaffa Wind
  15. The Moon Scroll
  16. The Knights of Silversnow
    • Special Edition 1: The Magic Escapes
  17. Dream Thief
  18. Search for the Dragon Ship
  19. The Coiled Viper
  20. In the Ice Caves of Krog
  21. Flight of the Genie
    • Special Edition 2: Wizard or Witch?
  22. The Isle of Mists
  23. The Fortress of the Treasure Queen
  24. The Race to Doobesh
  25. The Riddle of Zorfendorf Castle
    • Special Edition 3: Voyagers of the Silver Sand
  26. The Moon Dragon
  27. The Chariot of Queen Zara
  28. In the Shadow of Goll
    • Special Edition 4: Sorcerer
  29. Pirates of the Purple Dawn
  30. Escape from Jabar-Loo
  31. Queen of Shadowthorn
    • Special Edition 5: Moon Magic
  32. Treasure of the Orkins
  33. Flight of the Blue Serpent
  34. In the City of Dreams
    • Special Edition 6: Crown of Wizards
  35. The Lost Empire of Koomba
  36. Knights of the Ruby Wand
    • Special Edition 7: The Genie King
    • Special Edition 8: The Final Quest ---- this book is the last book in the series.

Eric Hinkle is on a quest to collect the magics to save Droon and Earth from Gethwing the moon dragon.

Characters

Protagonists

The lead characters of the series are[5]

Antagonists

The villains of the series are[6]

Supporting Characters

These are characters who help the antagonists and protagonists[7]

Minor Characters

These characters just have a minor or cameo role in the series[8]

Family members

These characters are parents of Eric, Neal and Julie:[9]

Places

The characters go to many places throughout the series. The prominent places are [10]

Outside Droon

Droon

Sequels and possible TV series

Tony Abbott has revealed on his blog that there could be a sequel series of seven books based on the Seven Cities of Gold. Nickelodeon has even expressed interest in doing a three to four season television series based on the books.

References

  1. http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Stairs-Magic-Carpet-Secrets/dp/0590108395 Book Description
  2. http://www.amazon.com/The-Secrets-Droon-Special-Edition/dp/0545098858 Book Description
  3. American Booksellers Association. BookWeb:Pressroom. "Exclusive 'If You Liked Harry Potter, You'll Like...' List From Independent Booksellers." February 29, 2000. http://www.bookweb.org/news/pressroom/3018.html Retrieved January 5, 2007.
  4. http://www.scholastic.com/droon/scholastic_droon_checklist.pdf
  5. http://www.scholastic.com/droon/encyclopedia.htm A to Z
  6. http://www.scholastic.com/droon/encyclopedia.htm A to Z
  7. http://www.scholastic.com/droon/encyclopedia.htm A to Z
  8. http://www.scholastic.com/droon/encyclopedia.htm A to Z
  9. http://www.scholastic.com/droon/encyclopedia.htm A to Z
  10. http://www.scholastic.com/droon/map.htm

External links

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