The Secrets of Droon 4 – City in the Clouds

Tony Abbott's City in the Clouds is a magical adventure for 7 year olds that starts with a boy's foot bursting out of his trainer on the school bus.

What happens

It's Neal's foot. And it's a bug foot!

Neal, Eric and Julie share a secret. There's a little room under the stairs in Eric's basement, and when they switch off the light, a rainbow staircase appears and takes them down into the magical world of Droon. On their last visit a spell went wrong and turned Neal into a bug. Now it's coming back.

So off they go to find a cure. This time the stairs drop them onto a huge flying ship packed with Lord Sparr's red-faced Ninn warriors, and they very nearly get thrown off the side (luckily some old friends turn up just in time).

The cure might be in Ro. It's a whole city that floats over Droon, hidden by magic, and it only lands one day a year. At midnight it vanishes again, and anyone still on it is stuck there for a year. Sparr is after something in Ro too. So it's a proper race against the clock.

It moves FAST. There are sound effects everywhere (Pop! Whoosh! Ka-blam!) and something new happens every few minutes. Neal is very funny about the whole bug business. He licks crumbs off the kitchen table on the way through and worries out loud that flying lizards eat bugs like him.

There's a lovely surprise when they finally meet the wise Guardians of Ro. No spoilers, but Neal's first guess is that they've found where the city keeps its dinosaurs.

Sparr is properly creepy, with his polished bald head and the fins behind his ears. The kids get grabbed by his warriors and there's plenty of peril. It's all the fun, cartoonish kind, though.

This isn't the first trip to Droon. The three friends already know the wizard Galen and Princess Keeah, and the book mentions their earlier adventures as it goes. It makes sense on its own, but some children like to start at the start.

What to read next

If yours does, The Hidden Stairs and the Magic Carpet is where Eric, Neal and Julie first find their way down while clearing out that basement.