The Chariot of Queen Zara

The Secrets of Droon #27

by Tony Abbott

With nearly 2 million books in print, this Little Apple series is H-O-T, hot. The SECRET is out -- DROON is the series that kids, parents, and teachers are talking about!

Galen is back, and the kids are going to need his help. But first, they have to find him! Eric and his friends soon learn that the old wizard is trapped in the city of Parthnoop, on the dark side of the moon, and only Queen Zara's flying chariot will take them there. But with genies, urn-riders, and secrets around every turn, can they reach Galen in time? Or will they be trapped in Parthnoop, too?

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

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

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

[Kryssy]

LOVED the deeper dive into genies. This was so fun!

And NEAL!!!!!!

- Went to other realm
- Tangfruits helps understand animals (like baby sparr’s 2 headed dog)
- Keeah made fog to hide everyone crossing the lake
- Finds a room with baby toys and a chariot with the inscription “for my sons”
- Hoja followed the chariot in a cloud. He followed galen. He needed their help so traveled through time to figure out where they would be and waited
- Droon is under attack by the Sultan and could be gone by tomorrow
- 7 genies. Not determined by age. Haven’t seen the first for a while
- Sultan could have seen where they will hide. Need to be invisible. But they already knew that too
- Wizard proof tower. Neal saw a door
- Wow… i forgot how long ago galen left…
- Sultan became evil because of a black stone in his turban
- Neal went back in time?!?!?
- He is a genie because he completed the 4 wonders. Chose the name zabilac (calibaz backwards)

[Gita The Witch]

This one was THE BEST among all the other 29 I read before this. Like I've been waiting so eagerly for Neal to get some magical ability, and HERE IT COMES! NEAL IS A GENIE NOW! With so many magical abilities! I've always pitied him for not having anything special. He's been my favorite character from the very beginning, and I wanted him to be special and important as well, not just an ordinary normal boy who loves food.

[Jessica]

Eric, Keeah, Neal and Julie are back together in Droon looking for Galen, who has been missing for quite some time. They find the chariot that belongs to Sparr and Galen's mother, Zara. I love reading this series with my daughter.

[Tara]

The gang continues to try and bring down Ko and his beasts. This time they have to find Galen first and then deal with a bad genie. Another good adventure. I love these kids.

[Jeremy]

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.
One of my favorite books in the series. This one continued right after the last book, The Moon Dragon. It was incredible this adventure. We meet the genies in this installment and we travel to an exciting new place. Many things are revealed in this book, many new exciting answers are given too and Neal finally has his powers. One of the best adventures in the series.

[Kirsten Simkiss]

This is definitely one of the books where you can't read them out of order. There's too much that you would need to know from prior books. Still, I'm very impressed by the inventiveness in these books. I don't remember if I ever read this far into the series as a child (our library system made it difficult to get ahold of the next book quickly due to their request system so I moved onto other books) but I'm definitely enjoying it. I just wish I could read them in order!

[Brian]

So, I skipped to #27, thinking maybe the author had developed his characters (and his writing) a bit. Nope! Same old problems. Oh well, these books have sold millions of copies, so who am I to judge them. Quality vs. popularity. Why is it that popularity always seems to accompany the big bucks and often quality languishes......Sigh!

[Boston]

I enjoyed all the dangers that the kids faced in this book. Neal gets his power, he turns into a genie. It was good to see a kid with a great hairstyle get that kind of power. I wear the spiky hairstyle all the time.

[Roxanne]

poor queen still changes shapes

[Erin]

This series is about 3 kids, and their adventures in a fairytale land that is constantly in danger and need them to save it.

[Twyla]

some kids were trying to rescue galen from a dark gienie they did and they turned the dark gienie back to his normal self.Auryn 8yo

[Felicia]

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

[Whirlawayka]

it was asome!! i wonder if the winged horse is a pegases?

[Roberto]

In this one, neal becomes the first genie of the dove!

[Sydney]

i like the part when Keeah and her friends find the chariot of queen Zara.

[Ali]

I just love these Secrets of Droon series. What I really like in this book is when Neal becomes a Genie.