The Secrets of Droon 21 – Flight of the Genie

Tony Abbott's Flight of the Genie is a Droon adventure for 7 year olds about a whole city that lives inside a bottle.

What happens

Eric, Julie and Neal have a secret. Under the stairs in Eric's basement there's a closet, and when they switch off the light a rainbow staircase appears. It leads down to Droon. When all three of them dream about Droon, they know they're being called back.

This isn't their first trip, and it shows. Eric has been a wizard for exactly one hundred and eighty-seven days (he's counted), with silver sparks that fizz from his fingertips. Julie can fly, which is very handy when Eric falls off Neal's roof in the very first scene.

Down the stairs they go, straight into an ambush of fierce red warriors riding flying lizards. Luckily Princess Keeah swoops in with her plane, along with Max the spider troll and the old wizard Galen.

Galen has a small dark bottle. Once every hundred years, for a single day, a city called Ut pours out of it, and today is that day. Somewhere inside is Hoja, a genie the children have met before. He's trapped, and they have to get him out before the city vanishes back into its bottle.

The city rises out of purple smoke. Guards with dog heads patrol the streets with big black nets. Neal wanders off for a free breakfast (of course he does). Then a carriage pulls up, and the boy inside looks EXACTLY like Neal. He says he's Duke Snorfo, Ruler of Ut, and he has everyone thrown in the dungeon.

It's fast and funny, with a new surprise round every corner. Neal's jokes about food keep things light even in the scary bits. The magic pen Quill keeps scribbling clues and then promptly falling asleep (it even snores).

Friendship stories with a bit of danger don't come much more fun than this. It helps to have met the characters before, as the book mentions earlier adventures and an ongoing fight with a villain called Lord Sparr.

What to read next

If they want to see how the basement closet business started, The Hidden Stairs and the Magic Carpet begins with Eric being sent down to clean up the basement, and Neal and Julie tagging along.