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Overview / 简介: |
| Step down... into the secret world of Droon, a fantasy series in which three kids discover a mysterious staircase in the basement that takes them to a magical and troubled world. Vivid imagery and exuberant energy make for a scintillating read. |
From Organization / 国外机构评价: |
| About the Author
Tony Abbott is the author of more than ninety books for young readers, including THE SECRETS OF DROON series; middle-grade novel KRINGLE; and THE HAUNTING OF DEREK STONE series. He was the recipient of the 2006 Golden Kite Award, as well as the 2009 Edgar Award. Tony was born in Ohio, and now lives with his wife and two daughters in Trumbull, Connecticut. Visit him online at www.tonyabbottbooks.com. |
Foreign Customer Review / 国外客户评价: |
| Most Helpful Customer Reviews
38 of 42 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Useful? Yes! Good? Heck, no. July 7, 2005
By E. R. Bird HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
Is there anything worse than a review or a blurb that describes a product as *blank* meets *blank*? How simplistic! How callous! That said, the first words that popped into my head after reading the first book in the ever-popular series "The Secrets of Droon" was Harry Potter meets The Magic Tree House. Which probably was exactly what author Tony Abbott was going for. This early chapter book (originally published in 1999) looks like a slightly older and more mature version of those saccharine-soaked "Magic Tree House" tales, but without the oh-so-slightly useful factual information. Instead, the wizardly wonders of "Harry Potter" and other fantasy worlds have been co-opted and boiled down into a scant 80 pages. If Abbott is to be commended for anything, it's for his sheer cheek. With nary an apology he whips up a bunch of fast-paced high-flying adventures artfully stolen from any number of better written books and smooshes them into titles that kids everywhere adore.
Eric, Julie, and Neal are best friends. They play soccer together. They go to school together. And when Eric's stuck cleaning the basement on a day that would perfect for a little soccer action, his buds stick by his side and help. Good thing that they do too. A mislaid kick of the ball reveals a tiny crawlspace under the basement stairs. Further inspection, however, leads the three kids to an amazing discovery. There, leading away from the basement by a flight of rainbow-colored stairs, is a world they never knew existed. Before they completely realize what is happening, the friends are wrapped up in a race to save the magical world of Droon from the desires of the evil and somewhat fishy Lord Sparr. Aiding them is the beautiful Princess Keeah, the wizard Galen, and a furry red-headed spider troll named Max. It's up to them to keep the secret of this magical world and fight the good fight when called upon.
First of all, good luck on finding any characters that aren't white and, preferably, blond. Second, I loved how Abbott covered all his bases. For the girls who aren't as into fantasy adventure but like princess tales, Keeah covers that particular need. Eric sports Harry-Potterish glasses (though, to be fair, so does Jack from the "Magic Tree House" books, so who can truly say what illustrator Tim Jessell was actually ripping off?). You have your standard Gandalf/Dumbledore white-bearded wizard. The villain has no real desires beyond power (the all-purpose bad guy need). Altogether, this is about as generic as they come. The book is better written than your average "Magic Tree House" story, of course. But that's really not saying much.
Still, the kids cry for Droon without cease or pause. They love it. They adore it. They'd own every single copy of these books if they could. I have to fight off swarming hoards of six-year-olds every time I get a new edition of the series on my shelf. Whence the popularity? Well, it's hard to deny that Abbott has zeroed in on a really ignored section of the populace. Kids who can read chapter books but still need pictures and a fast story to help them along are everywhere. And while I can't help but pray that maybe someday some author will write something just as addictive but a little less ... familiar (let's say) than this, that day has not yet arrived. So when a child asks me to recommend something since they've read all the "Magic Tree House" books already, I admit to sometimes leading them over to the "Droon" section of the library.
Hopefully this series will lure kids towards better books in the library though. In any case, while it won't win any awards for writing anytime soon, "Droon" is a staple in any library that must entice reluctant readers to its tables. Overdone, but useful.
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About the Author / 作者介绍: |
| To begin with, I was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and lived in a small house on top of a hill. Together, my mother, a school teacher, and my father, a returning World War II paratrooper pursuing his college studies, brought tons of books into our small house on Cliffview Road. I guess you could say that these books were my first introduction to the world of literature. My father was always writing, so the sound of the typewriter was like the background music of my early childhood.
When I was eight, we relocated, by car, to Connecticut where I finished elementary school and high school. I went to college at the University of Connecticut, majoring first in music (too hard), psychology (too many theories), and finally English (yes! lot and lots of books!). I graduated UConn with a bachelors degree in English Literature. After that, I traveled to Europe for quite a while, drank a lot of coffee, and wrote notebooks full of strange poetry. When I returned, I found work in a variety of bookstores and finally a library where I met my wife to be.
It was when I began reading bedtime stories to my children that the spark of writing I had had for so many years finally turned to children's books. After many failures, my first published book, Danger Guys, was written while taking a writing class with renowned children's author, Patricia Reilly Giff. That first book, and the series that it began, became the cornerstone of my writing career and has become something of a cult favorite, by virtue of its being difficult to find. Since then, I've written over seventy-five books for readers ages 6 to 14, including the cult favorit popular fantasy saga, The Secrets of Droon.
Over 8 million of my books have been sold worldwide, and my series and novels combined have been translated into Italian, Spanish, Korean, French, Japanese, Polish, Turkish, and Russian. Danger Guys was named a Children's Book-of-the-Month Club Main Selection, and the American Booksellers Association voted The Secrets of Droon among the "Top 10 List of Books to Read while Waiting for the Next Harry Potter." The series was also a Main Selection of the Children's Book-of-the-Month Club, and is on many school and library reading lists.
In 2007, my novel Firegirl won the Golden Kite Award for Fiction presented by the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. It is the only award given by children's writers to children's writers, a peer award I remain honored at having received. It was also a selection of the Junior Library Guild.
In the Spring of 2008, my second novel for Little, Brown Books for Young Readers appeared. The Postcard is a comedy/mystery about a boy who finds a clue on an old postcard while cleaning his recently deceased grandmother's Florida house, and who has no choice but to follow the mystery wherever it leads. Among other things, The Postcard is my love song to Florida's Gulf Coast, where my grandparents lived, and to old Florida, its architecture, roadside attractions, and Wild-West origins. It is, not least, my homage to the great hardboiled tradition of Hammett and Chandler, translated to a Florida setting. The Postcard won the 2009 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Juvenile Mystery.
In 2009, The Haunting of Derek Stone, a series of four books for older readers, appeared from Scholastic Inc. Titles include: City of the Dead, Bayou Dogs, The Red House, and The Ghost Road.
My literary and cultural interests include the films of Preston Sturges, the Road pictures of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, and the Marx Brothers, and the writings of Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, P.G. Wodehouse, Jules Verne, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Seamus Heaney, Emily Dickinson, Ted Hughes, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck, The Arabian Nights, Beowulf, James Thurber, Philip Roth, Ralph Ellison, and William Faulkner. I'm currently a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, the Yale Center for British Art, and other esteemed organizations. With my wonderful wife, two delightful and brilliant daughters, and the best dog imaginable, I live and work happily in Connecticut. |
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