The Secrets of Droon. Book 1: The Hidden Stairs and the Magic Carpet. Book 2: Journey to the Volcano Palace. by Tony Abbott. Read by Oliver Wyman
This occupies the small but growing niche of long series of short chapter books for the higher level of emergent reader. The chapters are short, with lots of cliffhangers. The action or scenery is first described in the narration, and then commented on by the characters. This series is about three children who find a magic stairway to the land of Droon in Eric’s basement. In the first book, Eric is rescued by and then helps to rescue the beautiful Princess Keeah from the evil Lord Sparr, who steals from Keeah the magical Red Eye of Dawn. In the second book, the three children go back to retrieve the Red Eye of Dawn from Lord Sparr’s volcano fortress. I’m not really an action fan, and the constant cliffhangers were a little irritating for me, and too scary for Mr. FP. I found the fantasy world derivative and the characters are just not the point of the story. However, the series is really popular. It’s not a series that’s going to win adult fans, but what it’s aiming to do, it does well – introduce beginning readers to fantasy and keep them coming back to the library for more.