The Secrets of Droon 7 – Into the Land of the Lost

Tony Abbott's Into the Land of the Lost is a spooky Droon adventure for 7 year olds with a clock ticking all the way through.

What happens

Eric, Julie and Neal are meant to be finding a wrench for Eric's dad, who's fixing a leak under the sink. Then the magic soccer ball in the basement lights up with a message. Keeah needs them.

Lord Sparr is hunting for a wasp made of gold, and it's hidden in Agrah-Voor, the city of ghosts. He's put Keeah in a trance and taken her with him.

Galen gives the friends a tiny hourglass. They must be out of the city by midnight. If they're not, they'll become ghosts too!

It's just the right amount of spooky. Their boat sinks through the water and floats gently down into the sky below. Queen Hazad's orange gown fades to grey as her people lose hope through the day. And there's a thief called Shago, with a magic rope he stole from a witch (he's very proud of that).

Then Sparr opens a box, and out come skeleton warriors with spinning spears. Eek!

Neal is brilliant all the way through. He's got brand new red socks, and he really, REALLY doesn't want them wet. Do you think they stay dry? It's the kind of running joke that has children giggling, and those socks end up mattering more than you'd expect.

Eric gets a big moment too. Sparr traps Keeah in a maze with only one path to the middle, and the pattern of it is burned into Eric's eyes.

It's a city of dead heroes and there are ghosts everywhere, but it's more exciting than frightening. The ghosts are brave and kind, and they fight on the friends' side.

This isn't the friends' first trip to Droon, and there are a few nods back to earlier adventures. It works fine on its own, though, because the opening explains who everyone is.

What to read next

If they want to know what happens next, the next Droon book, The Golden Wasp, carries straight on from this one.