The Kingdom Keepers series, by Ridley Pearson
I am particularly biased on this entry, because The Kingdom Keepers is my favorite book series. All four books are numbers 3, 4, 5, and 6 respectively on my list for my book-reading goal this year.
I came across this book series when I was 18, back in 2005. I was with my mother in Wal-Mart one day, and there was a sales table sitting in the middle aisle of the store. I have the worst habit of buying books and never reading them, a habit which plagued me even back then. We went over to look at the sales table. There, on the sales table, was a book called The Kingdom Keepers. It was $3. I picked it up and read the inside cover. The cover said that 5 kids were able to go into the Disney parks at night and find out what really happens when the parks close. I've always been a fan of Disney, still am, and the idea of the book really intrigued me. I bought it. It changed my life. Not in a hugely significant way, but just in the way one's life can be changed; something in it changed. My love of reading came back. After I read KK, I wanted to read more.
I remember reading KK and genuinely wanting to know what happened next. I couldn't put it down. After that, I deemed it my favorite book. That is still the case today. My theory is that the first book wasn't intended to start a series, but just to be a single tale. The first edition of the book is simply entitled, The Kingdom Keepers. (I bought the first edition for the $3.) After the book became a series, the name was changed to, The Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark. This is also an applicable name for the book considering the plot, but the book would have been fine had it not ever had a predecessor.
Synopsis: The book series is just as it claimed on the cover that day. Five kids: Finn, Philby, Charlene, Willa and Maybeck, are turned into what are called DHIs (Disney Host Interactive) (also stands for Daylight Hologram Imaging, where applicable), which are holograms of the actual kids who lead visitors around the Disney parks in Disney World, down in Florida. The kids all meet to make the holograms, and then realize they all have something more in common. They find out that whenever they go to sleep, they are somehow transported to the parks as their DHIs, while their flesh-and-bone selves are asleep in their beds. It's as though they are all dreaming one collective dream, but every night they end up in the parks as soon as they fall asleep. Once in the parks, they meet Wayne, an old Imagineer who personally knew and worked with Walt Disney. Wayne tells the kids about how after dark, all the Disney characters come to life. Finn, the leader as appointed by Wayne, sees Pooh and Piglet, and fights pirates from Pirates of the Caribbean. Wayne also tells the group about the Overtakers, a group of all the Disney villains led by Maleficent, the green witch from Sleeping Beauty. Now the Kingdom Keepers have to save the magic of Disney from the Overtakers. While in the parks, the five kids run around the parks, trying to figure out a riddle left by Walt himself to help conquer the Overtakers. They have to go on various rides after the parks are closed to find hints to the answer to the riddle. Once on the rides, it is discovered that the characters on the rides come alive as well. The dolls from It's A Small World come alive and try to hurt the kids. The kids finally figure out the riddle and track down Maleficent and Disney officials are able to apprehend her.
That is the general idea of the first book. After that, The Kingdom Keepers battle more villains and gain more allies in the process. They enlist the help of Amanda and Jess, "sisters" who are Fairlies, another kind of race who possess special powers. Jess can see the future, and with her help, the Keepers are able to know what to do ahead of time. Wayne is captured at one point by the OTs, and his daughter Wanda comes into the picture to help the Keepers rescue him. They save Wayne and then realize that the OTs have found a way to turn themselves into DHIs too, thus making a level playing field of good and evil.
I of course give the series a 5/5. As I said, I'm rather biased with it.
And no spoilers for you this time, because I want you to go read it! :)
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