The Golden Wasp

The Secrets of Droon #8

by Tony Abbott, Tim Jessell

Julie, Eric, Neal, and Princess Keeah must figure out how to stop Lord Sparr from using the powers of the Golden Wasp to enslave the rulers of all the kingdoms of Droon, and then going on to conquer the outside world through Eric's father whom Sparr holds

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens, Fiction, Middle Grade, Adventure, Juvenile, Magic

96 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2000

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

[Alexandra Elend Wolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.90

This was a nice little adventure, certainly, but also a quickly forgettable one.

Everything in the story felt very streamlined and quick; there were no true hardships, and every stumble was easily fixed by a convenient companion or a powerful ally. Truly, I felt no tension through the story.

Now, that is not to say that there isn't a certain kind of charm to a simple little story as this.

Getting to have a quick adventure to read, where the stakes are low is a nice breather for stories with higher stakes with more complex themes, and that's nice to have.

From all the characters, Kleeah was my favorite, as she felt like the one with a more define personality; but all of them mix well enough to have fun dynamics to read.

[Mosy · Rating 2 out of 5]

از این جلد دیگه یه مدتی با اسپار خداحافظی میکنیم و افراد دیگه ای میشن شرور های داستان.

[Harold Ogle · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I read more of these short Droon books, I find myself warming to them more and more. They're changing a little - the author relies on established characters for the most part and so can spend more of the little space he has on advancing plot in interesting directions - but mostly I think I'm learning to tolerate the stuff I don't like and grow more enthused about the positives. Yes, The Golden Wasp still has the annoying onomatopoeia (an example: trumpets flare several times in this installment, which Abbott renders as "Der-Der!" Der-der, to me, evokes a yokel baffled by a perplexing philosophical question, not a fanfare. Another one: Keeah plays enchanting music on a magic harp here, and it is presented as "Plink! Plank! Ploink!"). Yes, Abbott uses just as many fragment sentences as ever, if not more so (here's some fragments presented as complete sentences in the narrative, not as speech: "Sort of." "To the dungeon."). But the story is continuing to get better, and it picks up exactly where the previous book finished, which is a big improvement over the flow of the previous books, where the inevitable return to our world always seemed to put an unnecessary break into the plot.

Julie's bracelet is still in Droon, and so Eric's dad has disappeared into the magic world while the bracelet Julie did bring has animated into a voracious moon fox. The kids trap the moon fox as quickly as they can (before it can eat the entire basement), jump into the cupboard, and race into Droon to find Mr. Hinkle before he dies. Unfortunately, there's no sign of him. Instead they arrive at the capital city of Jaffa, where everyone is preparing for a celebration. A faceless wraith appears and sprinkles mind-altering sparkly powder on many of the inhabitants, narrowly escaping Keeah and the kids by slipping into shadows. The kids report this to Galen, and he declares that they must consult the oracle Portentia to find Eric's dad. The wizard, Keeah (for some reason going with the kids and not her dad, again), Max and the kids head off to a dark forest while the kings Zello, Khan, and Batamogi went with their entourages to Zorfendorf Castle for the festival. The party is attacked by Ninns in the forest, and Galen and Max stay back to handle them while the kids escape to seek the oracle on their own. The oracle - an animated rock - gives some cryptic rhymes about an ancient tune being the key, and confirms that Eric's dad and Julie's necklace are both being held in Plud, Lord Sparr's fortress. The kids leave, and Keeah abruptly runs off into the forest on a sudden familiar memory trail. She finds a forest tree house where Zello, Relna and she lived when she was a small child. Racing upstairs, she finds Relna's bow harp, tries to play it, and accidentally animates sundry objects in the cottage which begin to attack the kids until she plays another tune to stop them. They continue on to Plud, where they are astonished to see the royal procession arriving. Apparently the sparkly dust has ensorcelled the kings into mistaking Plud for Zorfendorf! The kids infiltrate Plud even more easily than the first time, and we see some of the other royalty: tall green-furred queen of the Bangledorn monkeys, Ortha, and flying empress of the sand children, Mashta. They all are taunted by Lord Sparr, then stung in the foreheads by the golden wasp, brainwashing them completely into Sparr's flunkies. Sparr leads them away to prepare the next step of the plan to conquer the Upper World. The kids sneak down to the lower levels while he's occupied. They find Mr. Hinkle, Max and Galen locked in the dungeon. Keeah zaps off the chains and they begin to search for Julie's bracelet. They find it in a room that also contains the thousands of wasp offspring of the golden wasp, surely part of Sparr's plan for conquest. Galen stays behind to make sure that the wasps are destroyed, while the kids run to rescue the kings. At first they have no idea what to do - Sparr seems so in control of everything, and the kings are completely his obedient servants. But then the Ninns report that Galen has set the hive ablaze, and Sparr runs off, leaving the kings unguarded. Keeah plays a song on the harp and breaks the wasp's spell. The kings are horrified to find themselves in Plud. The Golden Wasp zooms out and chases Neal back into the castle. The kids give chase, stun the wasp long enough to rejoin Galen, help him fight off Sparr, and then retreat back to the surface. There they begin to race to the rainbow stairs which have reappeared across the frozen river from Plud. All of the wraiths and all of the Ninns give chase, followed by the Golden Wasp and a flying Sparr (being harassed by Flying Keeah and Flying Galen). Keeah, Galen and Sparr resume their ages-old wizard battle, while Mr. Hinkle uses the harp to play some rockin' tunes to smash the ice, preventing further pursuit...except for the Wasp. Racing up the stairs, they rejoin Keeah and Galen as they toss Sparr down to the base of the stairs. Keeah plays the harp just in time to turn the Wasp so that it stings Sparr instead (he's not brainwashed, just goes into shocking seizure-like fits - it's probably rage, not an allergic reaction...he recovers enough to throw some mean glares Eric's way before they escape). The entire party materializes in the cupboard. Galen changes the moon fox back into bracelet form, wipes Mr. Hinkle's memory, and then leaves with Max and Keeah...but not before Keeah clearly recognizes the apple trees out the window. She's clearly been to Eric's basement before now. The kids shrug, and go to play outside.


I have to say it's a little weird to be reading about the Golden Wasp here, after ten years of reading Girl Genius. It really, really feels like the Golden Wasp is a rip-off of the slaver wasps that the Other used to nearly conquer Europa before Girl Genius begins...but The Golden Wasp was published two years BEFORE Foglio started posting his comic. So if anything, Foglio cribbed from Abbott, not the other way around. Weird.

There's also a bunch of unanswered questions that the story raises: what happens to all the royalty in Plud after they cross the frozen river around Plud? They don't appear to go up the stairs into Eric's basement with the party, so...where did they go? How do Keeah, Max and Galen all cross into the Upper World without adverse side effects? For that matter, how do the kids cross over with all their clothes, if just the presence of Julie's bracelet caused all the trouble in this book? It reminds me a good deal of "Back to the Future 2," where Marty leaves his girlfriend passed out outside, on a porch swing in the middle of the apocalyptically criminal neighborhood of the alternate universe where Biff has changed the outcomes...the attitude seems to be: "There's a troubling hole here, but so what? If the plot is thick enough, people will ignore it just like we do."

I enjoy these books like episodes of a pulpy TV show. While there's plenty of plot, there's not much character development, but that's OK in small doses. The plot is pretty engaging, with lots of reversals, interesting settings, seeming defeats, and dramatic situations.

[Pamela Hatch · Rating 4 out of 5]

SUMMARY: The situation is very serious, a bracelet from Droon mistakenly makes it way to the Upper World and something from the Upper World is sent to Droon in it's place -- and in this case it happens to be Eric's Dad. So Eric, Julie, and Neal immediately return to Droon in hopes to make things right and spoil Lord Sparr's plan to take over Droon and then the Upper World.

NOTES: This is the first time in the series where the reader is immediately drawn into another title because #7 ended in a cliffhanger. Tony Abbott keeps coming up with new adventures that brings the kids back to Droon and they keep getting more indepth, more complicated, and more intertwined (that is why adults will love this series too!) -- I love the addition of the harp and the music that is magical itself. -- The ending (last few paragraphs) leaves the reader wondering what happened in the past and what will be repeated in the future...there is more to this story than we are aware of. -- Find the next book and keep on reading.......

[Kryssy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing too special with this book. I’m glad they tied ends up and got upper world and droon items where they go. Erased dad’s memory. I wonder what will happen to sparr because if the wasp. And the last teveal at the end… WHAT??

- Bracelet charm came to life
- Wasp turns people into wraiths
- Portentia - a stone that talks in riddles?
- Eric’s father is at sparr’s home
- Go to keeah’s old family home
- Items in the house come alive and attach them
- All of droon’s rulers are under a spell
- Rooms are clearly labeled. Keeah jokes: “it’s for the ninn’s to know where they’re going”
- The golden wasp has kids!??
- Keeah plays the harp and rulers come out of the spell
- Attacked by a herd of wraiths
- Wasp stung sparr!!
- Galen and keeah go into the basement to get the moonfox
- Erases dad’s memory of droon
- Keeah feels she has been to the upper world before

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t even begin to say how much I love it when parents get involved and are totally on board. Can you imagine finding your dad locked in a dungeon just chatting it up with a wizard. So amazing. This book had just the right amount of tension and lightheartedness. One of my favorite in the series!

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story continues where it left off, with Eric's dad missing in Droon after Julie's bracelet got switched with a Droon bracelet. I loved the adventure and the humor. My daughter loves reading this series together.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This time Eric's dad gets involved. There's mind control and wraiths and exploding towers. Good stuff.

[Maximilian Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book because I liked the part when the gang didn't get spotted by Lord Sparr, because if they did, it would have been bad. I also liked this book because I love parties.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well I spoke to soon in the last review, this book did have an end and did not continue the cliff hanger other than a hint at a future story.

[Jack Silvernagel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will we ever know if the sink pipe got fixed? Probably not.

[Books Kids Like · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Julie brings the wrong bracelet into the Upper World, Eric’s dad disappears and the portal between the worlds becomes a two-way street. Desperate to rescue his father, Eric and his friends descend the rainbow staircase into Jaffa City right in the middle of a royal parade. The kings and queens of Droon are headed to Zorfendorf Castle for a celebration. Suddenly, a faceless wraith rains blue sparks onto all the royal heads and disappears. When Eric, Keeah, Julie, and Neal arrive at Sparr’s fortress in Plud, they are surprised to see the kings and queens there, too. The children soon learn that Sparr bewitched them and plans to let the Golden Wasp sting them so that they will be in his power forever. Now, Keeah and her friends must free the royals, rescue Eric’s father, and return Julie’s bracelet to the Upper World before Sparr and his Ninns can climb the staircase.
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com

[Roberto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I love Droon so much. It's incredible in this one. Sparr is an evil wizard who wants to conquer Droon. The characters in the book (Eric, Julie, Neal) are kids and go into Droon. When they go into their basement there's this little room, and when they flick off the light, a magical staircase appears and brings them to Droon. The characters are mostly spell casters. One of them is Khan. The first wizard of Droon is Galen. One of the other greatest wizards is Kheeah. When they go into Droon, they have great adventures, but all of them are very dangerous. Anyway, in the 8th book, they go to Plud, Sparr's evil fortress. In that part, Sparr has this magical creature called the golden wasp. If the wasp stings someone, they become under Sparr's control.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 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.The book is filled with action, adventure, and mistery. This one has a few interesting twists in it, one of them including Eric's dad. In each book we keep delving into the secrets of the magical world of Droon.

[Kirsten Simkiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoyed this series as a child and this book was no exception. While this one is fairly simple in terms of plot, the imagery is definitely intriguing. For instance, my favorite element of this book was the faceless army of wraiths, particularly at the end. Imaging them skating after you is rather terrifying, honestly.

[Takumu · Rating 3 out of 5]

There father was locked at the place called the secret of Droons. An a animal from Droons came by accident and the kids got him and the monster took them to the place and now the magic begin.

I like this story because it is mysterious and funny
By Takumu Osa

[Georgia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Golden Wasp

How did the book changed you in a major way: It helped me believe that just because a book is fiction doesn't mean that it’s not good.
Who would I tell to read it: my friend because we like the same things and I liked this book.
Give history about i: The book is about a golden wasp and it’s baby’s.
The author has a big imagination and is very creative

[Sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

when galen warned them never to bring things from droon to the human world.julie brought a droon thing to the upperworld which is the human world and it turned eric's dad into a ghost in droon so eric and his friends set off to find eric's dad to find eric's dad they have to pass the golden wasp.

[Elaine Shandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazingly fun read! This book is one of my nephews first chapter books and he was spell bound by it! You should've seen his eyes as we read through each chapter. Priceless! He was so sad that he had to go to school this morning with only two pages left until the end of the story, poor boy!

[Priya · Rating 4 out of 5]

More secrets are revealed … can’t wait to read more of the series

Sparr attempts to get to the upper world … his elaborate plan brings everyone to their knees first … but things flip after a while …

[Rosemary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good enough writing to make me read till the end, but I found some of the name choices jarring. Apologies to anyone who has given their daughter this name, but "Keeah" is not a name for a princess. Especially spelled like that.

[Roxanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

scary magic evil wasp

[Eamonn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this series!!

[Cws]

JEAR3-Abb

[Goge (BARRONS) le Moning Maniac, · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5?

[Horace Mann Family Reading Challenge · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about 4 kids that they find a big dog in their basement and there parents are missing. They set off to try to find them. S.S.

[WSL Library]

x2

[Nicole Luiken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still reading this inventive fantasy series to my 7-year-old. I enjoyed the fact that Eric's dad got to play a small role in this one--even if he did get his memory erased at the end.

[Anna]

Author continues to "borrow" from other stories. This time, Wizard of Oz.

[Julia Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hope to read more of this series and I think this book is very good.