The Mask of Maliban

The Secrets of Droon #13

by Tony Abbott

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. When Prince Maliban takes over as the creepy new ruler of Turtle City, his mysterious mask-maker, Hob, creates an awesome and powerful new mask, forcing Eric, Neal, and Julie to make sure the mask doesn't fall into the wrong hands.

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens, Fiction, Adventure, Chapter Books, Juvenile, Middle Grade

128 pages, School & Library Binding

First published September 1, 2001

About the author

Tony Abbott (born 1952) is an American author of children's books. His most popular work is the book series The Secrets of Droon, which includes over 40 books. He has sold over 12 million copies of his books and they have been translated into several other languages, including Italian, Spanish, Korean, French, Japanese, Polish, Turkish, and Russian. He has also written the bestseller Firegirl.

Abbott was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1952. His father was a university professor and had an extensive library of books which became one of Abbott's first sources of literature. When he was eight years old, his family moved to Connecticut where he went through elementary school and high school.

Abbott attended the University of Connecticut, and after studying both music and psychology, decided to study English and graduated from the University of Connecticut with a bachelor's degree in English literature. He attended the workshops of Patricia Reilly Giff to further develop his writing after college.

Abbott currently lives in Trumbull, Connecticut, with his wife, two daughters, and two dogs. Tony had one brother and two sisters.

Reviews

[Mosy · Rating 3 out of 5]

خب بالاخره شرور اصلی داستان، لرد اسپار دوباره برگشت.
یه مشکلی که من با این سری تا اینجا داشتم، این بود که نویسنده حدود یا قوانین خاصی برای جادو تو کتاب قرار نداده. یعنی مثلا یه جا یکی از شخصیت های جادوگر تو کتاب میگه که مثلا فلان جادو رو نمیتونم انجام بدم و تو این مایه که در حد توان من نیست. ولی تو یه جلد دیگه میاد همون کار رو در ابعاد وسیع تر بدون هیچ مشکلی انجام میده.
یعنی یه جوریه که انگار عنصر جادو تو کتاب همیشه فاز "امداد غیبی" طوری داره و هر وقت نویسنده عشقش بکشه جادو عمل میکنه .
و خب اینا نقص پیرنگ های زیادی رو تو روایت داستان ایجاد میکنه.

[William Wiggins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part of my ongoing quest to re read the Secrets of Droon series from my childhood...

This entry in the series introduced a fun new development , as we saw one of the characters from the non magic world getting some budding wizard abilities. Keeah saved Eric using magic, and seemingly transferred some of her powers to him . At this point in the series, it's unclear if it was a total accident , or if there is more to Eric's powers. Its fun that the series seems to have an ongoing stream of mysteries and secrets to uncover.

And,on a side note , the city of Tortu is built on the back of a giant magical turtle , and that's just plain cool .

[Maximilian Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book because it was better than the other books in the series. This book was better than the other books in the series because it was the only book in the series with Galen fighting groups of bad guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kryssy · Rating 3 out of 5]

**3.5**

Average storyline but i didn’t like how much internal comments there were. I get that eric is going through something and he’s freaking out but it seemed to take away from the overall plot

Finally got good after we meet sparr again

- Eric made birds (from droon!) appear and disappear
- Looking for the creature Julie and Neal dreamed about. He used to make masks but started putting symbols on them
- City of tortu on a turtle
- Asks keeah about her powers
- Magic boots for the prince
- Hob is working on a mask for prince maliban
- Julie uses the magic boots. Prince’s soldiers try to take her. Eric attempts to use his powers to stop them. Nothing happens
- Make giggle twins fall asleep to take their invitations
- Eric has to dress as a girl. Neal insisted he fit the boy part better… he is introduced as doofus the ugly😂😂😂
- Maliban is a talking statue
- Wizard of oz situation. Maliban is sparr!
- Eric makes a carpet fly so they can escape tortu
- Sparr uses the mask that absorbed magic to turn himself back to himself. He knows about the future and eric’s powers
- Tells galen all about om, sparr, and his powers
- Keeah and the friends can communicate telepathically

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love these books. They remind me of Doctor Who in that they have underlying mysteries that carry over between books. New things keep popping up. I love it.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

It good book (by: Connor the pro!!!!!!)

No bad yes good I want next book in series now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you wanna read it twust me it worf the 💰

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite in the series. I loved these books as a kid though. They're fun and creative and always got my imagination going. Definitely a fun book to read with kids.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice twist on the books with a new storyline and now some great magic issues, I still think that the books should be read in order to get the best results, This was a Good Read.

[Raven · Rating 5 out of 5]

A unique change to the story where Eric, Nate and friends challenge a new evil and learn more about themselves. Teaches of telling the truth and other morals.

[Jack Silvernagel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I REALLY did not expect the crossdressing!

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

A small-time magician, Maliban, is up to some kind of nefarious purpose in the city of Tortu, which is located on a huge tortoise's back. And Eric tries to hide his new powers from everyone.

[Harold Ogle · Rating 2 out of 5]

No doubt my appreciation of this Droon book was hampered by reading the far superior Enchanted Glass, which is so far beyond this series as to be in a different universe. But there's some stuff to like about this: Eric develops his magical powers a bit more, Galen is shown to be fallible, Tony Abbott mistakes a tortoise for a turtle, Neal gets adoring fans, and the character of Hob, the sentient hyena mask maker is introduced.

Eric begins the book by creating all sorts of mayhem with accidental magic. He hasn't told anyone that he has magic powers now, and has no idea what he's doing, so the magic goes off at inconvenient times and makes a lot of mess. He doesn't tell because he wants to keep the power, and is convinced that, once people know, they will take the power away from him. Neal, Julie and Eric are hanging out at Eric's house when his magic causes a flock of flying jelly doughnuts to appear. Eric shoves everyone into the closet to prevent them from seeing and asking questions, and the rainbow staircase obligingly appears. The kids arrive in Droon in a magic prison, where Galen is interrogating the fire frog guards about how Hob, a magic mask maker, has escaped. This part was actually pretty clever, I thought: Hob convinced a junior guard to bring him some food, and then he used his magic to change the bowl into a mask with the power of flight. So everybody now goes after Hob, who is heading for the city of Tortu and the minor wizard Maliban. Keeah uses her magic to teleport everyone to Tortu, which is actually a city on the back of a colossal tortoise. Abbott never explains how the city withstands the rocking, shuddering movement of the tortoise as it walks. Oh well. Somehow Galen throws Max's silk ladder all the way up to the edge of the shell, and the kids climb up with no difficulty. There they wander the marketplace, which is a typical middle eastern bazaar, and hunt for Hob. Apparently the bazaar is thick with Maliban's henchmen, and they are rounding up all magic to take to their master. As they pass, a pair of magic boots fall off a truck, and Eric hands them to Julie. She's gotten her feet wet, so she switches shoes for boots, and then finds that they are magic jumping boots. The guards detect her magic use, capture her, and take her to Maliban. After Neal is accosted by two giggling girls who adore his hair so much they have to touch it and caress it, the kids follow, to find all the magic being absorbed by Hob's mask, floating around the statue of Maliban. Eric notices something hideous behind a curtain, and with his magic vision realizes that it is, in fact, Lord Sparr. Sparr appears as a revolting slug/dragon/thing, taunts them, dons the mask, and regains his powers and former shape. Eric attempts to duel him, and Sparr blasts him off his feet before flying away with an evil chuckle and crackle of lightning. Hob flees and the kids give chase, but they lose him in the darkness as Tortu walks into Sparr's kingdom. They all barely escape on a flying carpet, Galen assures Eric that it's OK he has powers, and Keeah gives Eric an extra jolt so that he can telepathically communicate with his friends. Then they all go home.

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've decided to read The Secrets of Droon series entirely for Christmas since i've been feeling a bit nostalgic. I want to be able to live a bit of the magic of being a kid and what beeter to help than this incredible series. I know that this series is for young kids but i feel it will still be great after all these years.
This installment was full of action and twists. We see the development of Eric's powers and the return of Sparr with a new villain. The characters are developed more and we learn various new things. You feel that something big is starting to occur or will occur.

[Roberto · Rating 5 out of 5]

When the kids go to Droon, Eric has these powers from book #12, and he accidentally makes flying donuts go through the basement, but he tries to get them all in his mouth. Sparr is in this one with a mask, and his henchman is in it too. I liked this one because it had a lot of action and fighting.

[Priya · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this installment Eric realizes he has wizard powers
Lord Sparr attempts to regain his powers using mask made by the imp Hob with Goll words. That is supposed make the mask powerful.

It was a quick read. Droon stories are also good to enjoy.

[Roxanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

some sort of magical mask that an imp owns

[Gabriela · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Felicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute adventure story for 2nd or 3rd grade level readers.

[Tym · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story about secrets

[Sydney · Rating 4 out of 5]

its about Hob a imp is making powerful masks for Sparr and they have to stop Hob so they have to disguise themselves as girls and a boy to stop Sparr.

[Kendra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read with my little over the course of a month. Cute story that was easy to understand, even if you had not read others in the series. Good vocabulary practice for third grader.