SOUNDTRACK: JIMMY FALLON (as THE DOORS)-“Reading Rainbow” (June 2011).
I heard this song on WXPN and it cracked me up–I believe they played it because the Reading Rainbow iPad app just launched. But I had no idea who was doing it. It was a spectacular Jim Morrison impression. The Doors are iconic enough that it’s pretty easy to do Jim Morrison, but Fallon is so right on–phrasing and movements–that it’s really amazing. And they went all out for the video (if I thought the song was good, the video is amazing): the band, the sound, the clothes, the filming–it’s all perfect. And the craziest thing is that the nonsense in the middle–when Jimmy is reciting kids books (the Goodnight Moon section is especially cool) sounds just like some poetry that Morrison would have said.
It’s outstanding.
http://www.nbc.com/assets/video/widget/widget.html?vid=1368107
Makes me smile every time. I’m only bummed I can’t embed it.
[READ: February-March, 2012] The Secrets of Droon: Books 22-25 & SE#3
I’ve really enjoyed Droon so far. The stories have been interesting and fun, and they have allowed the three kids to meet interesting characters and to face some dangers. But it is with this group of books that the series gets really intense and I’m looking forward to reading them as much as Clark is to hearing them!
It’s also growing harder and harder to avoid spoilers because the spoilers are what are so exciting about the books. Indeed, the backs of the books even give stuff away about the previous book. So, yes, there may be a spoiler or two in here, but it’s hard not to talk about the cool things that happen.
Bo
ok 22 is called The Isle of Mists. As we learned in Special Edition #2, Lord Sparr has just acquired all Three Powers of Droon, the Coiled Viper, the Red Eye of Dawn, and the Golden Wasp. With these he is able to unleash the hidden powers of the buried city of Goll–the home of ancient dark magic. Sparr is returning to the Isle of Mists to reunite with his stepfather the Emperor Ko–the beast who stole Sparr from the Upper World and from Zara. And now that he has all three Powers, Sparr will be able to bring Ko back to life. Whereas most of the books in the series had smaller adventures, this one is pretty major–all of the pieces are in place for a major climax. And this book does not disappoint. Sparr is able to use the powers to bring Ko back from the dead. The way this works is by sending Ko back 400 years into the past, when he was at the height of his powers. But what has happened to Sparr in the meantime?
B
ook 23 is called The Fortress of the Treasure Queen. And by now although the titles do tell you about the plot of that book, there is SO MUCH going on, that the title almost seems pointless–[And spoilers are inevitable now]. Sparr has been turned into a child! Sparr got caught in his own magic and when he sent Ko back in time, he himself was sent back in time and he is now the same age as Eric, Julie and Neal. He is just beginning to grow the fins on the back of his head and…well…he may not be evil, yet. But the fortress of the treasure queen proves to be very important too. Ko unveils a submarine, and if he is able to use it correctly, he will be able to get to the Upper World. This book also marks the first appearance of Gethwing–the four winged dragon who took care of Sparr after Ko disappeared 400 years ago. Gethwing will become a prominent enemy of the kids for the rest of the series–as will Ko.
Book 24 is called The Race to Doobesh. Doobesh is a magical city where Ko will use a giant forge to fashion the armor that will make him unstoppable. The race is more than just a speed race, there are some clever challenges that the kids must get through as well. And they also meet Pasha, the greatest inventor, ever. Pasha of the amazing magic carpets! Pasha who is… trapped? He can create magic things but he couldn’t get himself out with magic.
The book ends with the kids back in the Upper World. But they have been spotted doing something magical by a human named Meredith. Is their secret out?
Book 25 is called The Riddle of Zorfendorf Castle. Meredith continues to be a problem in this book. Eric gets careless and uses some magic powers at the beach (to save Neal’s food from falling) and they are sure Meredith (not to mention other prying eyes) saw it. Even stranger, when Meredith shouts that someone is in trouble in the water, she gets to him before the kids can even think of using their powers to assist.
But more importantly, things starts to get pretty intense now in Droom. Ko’s beats have become very powerful and they are really a formidable foe. Much like in the Harry Potter books that start out for younger kids but get more mature, these books are doing the same. It makes sense since Abbot’s original readers have been with the series for some 5 years now, but it’s a bit striking when reading them all at once to notice that things are getting really scary all of a sudden. The kids are also still trying to figure out what to think of Sparr. Now that he’s young again, he seems innocent, he seems like their friend, but can they really trust him? Especially since it seems that Ko doesn’t really know that Sparr is helping them.
Ko plans to attack Zorfendorf Castle. Amazingly when a location like this pops up, Clark remembers a lot of details about it. Zorfendorf first appeared in Book 18 where we meet Thog, the giant librarian.
As this book ends, Sparr and Ko crash through into the Upper World and the rainbow staircase that has always brought them home is destroyed. What will the children do?
This arc ends (although really the Special Editions seem more arbitrary now), with SE#3, Voyagers Of The Silver Sand. The book opens in Droon, since the kids couldn’t get back. And right away Eric has a vision of Gethwing in the Dark Lands. But Gethwing speaks to him and says, look again. That’s when Eric realizes that what he thought was the dark lands looks an awful lot like his home town.
In this book the kids must return to the magical city of Ro, which is powered by diamonds (first seen in Book 4). Ro has a tower where the history of everything that has happened in Droon is written. It is all written by Quill, a magical feather pen. This book plays most heavily with time travel (again, a bit of a head scratcher for my soon-to-be 7-year-old, but I think he was getting it by the end). Five treasures have been stolen from Ro and they are hidden in Ushku which is “not so much place as it is a time.” The children have only 24 Droon hours to travel to five different times in the history of Ushku. But they will not be alone. Saba, Ko’s shadow version of himself, will follow them everywhere they go.
The stakes of this book are even higher than usual. Now that Gethwing is in the Upper World, and there’s no one there to fight him, he can basically do what he wants. To whomever he wants. Like the kids’ parents….
At some point Neal calls himself a “genie with no powers” and boy Clark and I felt bad that Neal still has no magic–Eric is super powerful, Julie can fly, but there’s not been much for Neal. However, he has been doing a lot more for the team lately.
I Just Read About That... 
Your summary and analysis of the Droon book warms my heart. When I was writing them, particularly the several that you talk about in this post, I was having the best time and, in fact, was startled that after twenty-something books the ideas seemed as fresh as ever. For example, Sparr as a young boy. It was nearly an afterthought to his mission to reanimate Ko, but came out of the writing so organically that it became a significant thread in the later books. Anyway, I could go on about what a joy Droon was and is for me, but I really want to thank you for spending so much time and space saying such nice things about the books!
All the best,
Tony Abbott
Gushing with joy here! Thanks for writing! I’m tickled that you read this. Of course now that I know you’re reading I have to watch what I say 🙂
I don’t want this to sound arrogant or like I knew what was going on, but the series seems totally revitalized at this point. I have no idea what you had planned from the start–length, plot points–but it felt like the first dozen or so books were a fun story about a secret world. My son and I really enjoyed the self-contained sagas. And then it felt like the series went into overdrive and it got really exciting. The scary scenes were more intense, the jokes were funnier, and the stakes grew higher. This series has been really wonderful (I have finished it but haven’t finished posting yet).
And I loved how really into the series my son was. He always wanted one more chapter (I taught him the word cliffhanger) and he was disappointed when we didn’t have time for it on certain nights. And amazingly, he retained so much of it. He remembered scenes that I had forgotten and he predicted things (not always correctly, but I was so happy he was trying to) that were coming up.
Best of all it was a great way for my son and I to bond before bed (whether one should be reading about dragons and dead parents before bed is something I’ll leave others to decide).
It’s going to be hard to figure out what to read next. Thanks again!
[…] So Sarah made an awesome Droon cake.She wrote a post about the experience. And to top off the coolness factor, Tony Abbott himself wrote some very nice things to her on the post (click the link to see). Tony Abbott also wrote some super nice things on my posts as well (in the comments here). […]