The Hawk Bandits of Tarkoom

The Secrets of Droon #11

by Tony Abbott

The kids from the Upper World must travel back in time to save Droon from the most dangerous creatures they¹ve met yet!

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

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 23, 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 2 out of 5]

کشف راز های جدیدی از درون، ملاقات با گذشته برخی از افراد، و تونل هایی که به کل دِرون راه دارن؛ نشان از قوی تر شدن داستان داره.

[Harold Ogle · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the better Droon books, so far. One of the disadvantages of the format of these very brief chapter books - in which the characters start and finish each book in our normal world - is that the author feels the need to review the set-up of the series with each book, but with this volume he did it a bit more elegantly than in many of the others. Part of that is that we had a bit of a cliff-hanger with the previous book, in which it was intimated that the Sea Witch Demither gave Princess Keeah some witch powers.

Neal, meanwhile, chases his dog Snorky (I know, terrible name) into Eric's house, where Snorky makes an incredible mess (like a scene from a Beethoven movie or Marmaduke cartoon) before charging into the basement and thence into Droon (somehow the dog pushes aside all the crates, opens and shuts the closet door, and switches off the light in about three seconds). The kids chase Snorky into the Panjibarrh region of Droon, whereupon they are immediately beset by Kem, a giant two-headed dog monster. At this point I thought that Snorky had been ensorcelled to be a monster in Droon. Keeah appears, and instinctively uses her witch powers (as opposed to wizard magic) to repel Kem. The witch powers manifest as red glowing energy, in contrast to the blue glowing energy of wizard magic (what Keeah has been learning as Galen's apprentice). The kids ride with Keeah on her pilka to meet Galen and Max. Galen explains that Kem was defeated at his hands four hundred years before, in the ancient Goll city of Tarkoom. They meet Batamogi, Oobja King, who explains that an earthquake uncovered Kem's final resting place, disturbing the seals that captured him. They mention Lord Sparr a number of times in passing, but as in the previous books, Sparr is dismissed as being "in hiding" since he was stung by the Golden Wasp in book 8. Instead, Galen talks of the hawk bandits, and their dread leader, Ving, who he fears plans to invade our time to avoid being defeated four hundred years in the past. Keeah voices her fears about the witch magic, which seems wild and dangerous to her. They arrive at the ruins of Tarkoom, in time to see the magic reassemble the city through a sort of time warp. The kids, Max and Galen enter the city, but Eric is separated from them long enough to be found by Kem. Kem chases him down a number of streets and alleys, until Eric arrives at a dead end in a garden. In the garden, he finds a tangfruit, which are incredibly stinky when they crack open, and he uses them to drive off Kem for a few moments. Then, while trying to find another way to escape, he falls into a pit. He's stuck in the pit for days, starving to death, until he becomes so desperate that he eats a tangfruit. While it smells ever so foul, it tastes delicious, and it imparts the ability to speak and comprehend all languages. Then mooples - otter-like sentients who live in and maintain the underground tunnel system for Droon - arrive and take pity of him. They explain that the tunnels exist outside of time and run underground, connecting all parts of Droon. Traveling through the tunnels is very tricky, but if one can find one's way, one can use them to travel from one location to any other in literally no time at all (though of course subjective time will have passed). The mooples reveal that Keeah was lost in the tunnels as a young child, and they helped her out, too. Eric emerges back into Tarkoom to find that seconds have passed since he fell in the pit. The kids find Eric, but Galen and Max have disappeared again. The four kids are captured by the hawk bandits and taken to Ving himself, but a grizzled cripple of a hawk bandit camed Icthos. Ving uses his suggestive powers to bewitch the princess and kids that he means no harm, but Eric is able to discern his true intentions, by virtue of having eaten the tangfruit. He warns the others just as they are escorted into a guest banquet hall, so that they narrowly escape being eaten by a bunch of serpents in a pit trap. They are rescued by a young hundred-and-forty-year-old Galen, who appears as a dashing swashbuckler Douglas Fairbanks type hero. He zaps the serpents with his rainbow cutlass, and they all run off to rescue Max and stop Ving from using his lightning bolt. While Galen and Ving duel, Eric and Keeah makes their way to the ballista (which is aimed to destroy the Oobja village). She clears the way by instinctively using her witch magic again, and the kids fire the lightning bolt straight up. They all flee, and the lightning bolt slams down and blows up Tarkoom. The two Galens meet, congratulate each other, and one returns to the past. They use the tunnels to escape.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book series is aimed to get younger kids to read and it worked perfectly with my son, He looked forward to each book in the series and he read them all. I have just started reading them and yes they are not among the great works of literature but if it keeps my kid off the computer, or away from the Noise box spewing out hour after hour of commercials each geared to grab instant attention, with fast talking, loud interrupting burst of instant energy, No wonder teachers are having more kids with A.D.D. What teacher could ever compete with T.V. and over sensitised children who have been fed this stuff since birth. Real people would seem to move in slow motion to these kids. Oops I got off track again sorry. The Hawk bandits of Tarkoom was interesting and added some more clues in the mystery of what Keeah doesn't remember, also there is a great surprise about Galen's past. This was a Good Read.

[Claire]

What is the book about? You don't need to tell the whole story over — just give an idea of what it's about. the book is about kids trying to stop a evil person named Ving to put his village back in the past.

Do you think other people would like it? i would thing people who are adventurous would like this book.

What emotions did you feel while reading the book (sad, funny…)?I felt curios to see what happens at the end.

Did you learn something from the book? i learned to never go back in time.

Did you think it was interesting? i thought it was really interesting and fun to read.
Would you want to read it again? yes i would love to read it again some time.

Would you want to read other books by the same author or about the same subject? yes i would love to read more of these books and see what else there is.

What was your favorite part? my favorite part was when they defeted ving.

[Faterider · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read, no doubt. Perhaps it was my first "The Secrets of Droon" book but I found it hard to keep track of the foreign-sounding names and the plot. Still, a great book to introduce to young writers how they can incorporate onomatopoeia into their writing in meaningful ways.

[Jack Silvernagel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Ving <3 it's fascinating we've gone so long without seeing Sparr, but his return is set up nicely here. I remember thinking Keeah's dual powers were so cool, and I wanted to eat a tangfruit badder than bad.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eric, Julie, and Neal are off to Droon again in the eleventh installment of the series. I really enjoyed the young version of Galen and how he was a completely different, devil-may-care character, and yet still extremely likeable. That was awesome!

[Maximilian Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did NOT like this book because it was BORING. It was BORING because all it was about was 2 Galens stopping Vike.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, but Young Galen kills me. I’m not usually one for time travel...but Droon does it the best.

[Libri Sempra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just as great as the rest of this series - reading to children who have become major fans of this series and want me to never stop reading these books to them.

[Stacie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The three friends had another amazing adventure in Droon. And Neal's dog came with! They escaped Ving and his Bandits to save Droon once again.

[Naaman]

12/20

[Raven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun, quick adventure to read. Perfect for parents with children who want a quick story and want to help read. Tony Abbott provides a safe environment where children's imagination can soar. Lifetime favorite of mine.

[Kryssy · Rating 2 out of 5]

**2.5**

I think we’re definitely in the period that happens with longer series where it just isn’t as good. Authors experiment with taking out an aspect and then wait too long to add it back in. All these off stories are cool but not as intense as when sparr is the villain

I did like a couple aspects. The twist with galen and the tangfruit!

As i was reading, i could see many details that were used for other big series now. I wonder if this was used to spark those ideas (probably not, but it’s cool to think about)

- Neal’s dog runs into droon
- Attacked by a two headed beast that supposedly died 400 years prior
- Rose from the earthquake. Guardian of tarkoom, a city of thrives and bandits
- Wondering about keeah’s past
- Tarkoom rebuilds itself
- Kem the monster comes after eric again. He escapes by using stinky fruit
- Eric is hungry so eats some of the stinky fruit which helps him understand otter creatures
- Seems to have been days in the tunnels but only 30 seconds in droon time
- Hawk prince
- Eric can hear what ving really means
- Tricked and put into a room with a false floor. Eric helped them survive just in time but have no way out
- Saved by galen!! From 400 years ago Shortbeard vs longbeard 😂
- Kem goes to find sparr
- Snorky ate tangfruit and can talk!

[Books Kids Like · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eric asks Julie and Neal over to help clean and maintain the closet that leads to Droon- replace the light bulb, oil the hinges, and sweep the closet out. Neal is late as usual. He’s been trying to teach his dog, Snorky, to fetch, but he used a box of cookies, and Snorky ran away with the box and ended up in Eric’s yard. When Eric and Julie go out to help Neal, Snorky runs into Eric’s basement. The children arrive in time to see Snorky disappear down the stairs. A fierce two-headed beast greets them, but they are saved when Princess Keeah rides up on a pilka and throws some of her magic at the creature. Galen discovers that a recent earthquake released the beast from its four hundred year slumber. It also brought back to life the wicked city of Tarkoom and its hawk bandits- creatures that are half human and half bird of prey- who want to destroy Droon. A much younger Galen defeated the city four hundred years ago. Now, he must do it again before the bandits destroy Droon.
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com

[Dharia Scarab · Rating 3 out of 5]

My love of reading started when i was young, and it gives me immense pleasure to provide books to Spread the Word Nevada, an organization that passes them on to children in the community. They are a terrific organization supporting an important cause. If your local I encourage you to check them out. For those living further a field, look in your own community, their may already be a similar program in place. And if not, you can always help start one.

http://spreadthewordnevada.org/

Myself, I go out on the weekends and
shop thrift store and bulk book lots to rescue books and donate them. Sometimes I'll find a book I remember reading when I was young and will read it again before passing it on.

I don't rate these books using my normal scale, instead I give most of them three stars. This isn't a Criticism of the book, simply my way of rating them as good for children.

[Roberto · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this one, there's this city called Tarkoom. In it there are bandits who steal stuff. Eric ate this fruit which lets him understand all of the weird creatures in Droon. Ving the master of the hawk bandits had a magical voice and he was actually saying bad things. Only Eric could understand him. Ving is bringing all the kids to their doom! The hawk bandits bring them to a room with a black ocean under them and no floor! Then these cobras snap at the kids. Galen Shortbeard comes along and saves them.

[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.

It was action-filled, full of twists and adventure. We have new villains and mysteries but we actually get some answers. We also meet a special "new" character. It was an exciting book one of the better ones so far.

[Boston · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book, some evil bandits from the bad try to rebuild their city and Galean the first wizard of Droon defeated them in the past when he was really young. Then he has to fight them again, the younger Galean from the past comes and helps them.

[Nicole Luiken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still reading this series to my daughter. After not enjoying the last two Droon books as much, this was an uptick again. A cool setting with the ancient city of Tarkoom coming back to life. I also liked the tangfruit and Galen Shortbeard.

[Kirsten Simkiss · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story deals with time travel and a whole lot of half-human, half-bird people trying to escape a past in which they were destroyed. While a lot of fun, this one isn't the most inventive thing I've ever seen in the series. Still, it is good fun.

[Sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

when eric and his friends get a sign from keeah. they figure out that they have to stop the bandits and the king of the bandits.

[Roxanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

crazy hawk man and his hawklets

[Cassie · Rating 5 out of 5]

i loved this book

[Goge (BARRONS) le Moning Maniac,]

I recognize this cover. Have I read it already?

[Felicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[Kirat Randhawa · Rating 3 out of 5]

♥

[Priya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This installment felt better than the last one, but not much is happening.

Concept of time travel is at the center here :)

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love these books. Each book in the series is great. They never feel boring or repetitive. My favorite part in this one is the talking dog. Super funny!