Kingdom Keepers

[shyjade]

I haven't seen any posts lately on the "Kingdom Keepers" series by Ridley Pearson, so I'm not sure many of the DISers out there are familiar with these books about Disney World....(I first learned about them from the DIS several years ago).

As we prepare for our upcoming trip, my DD15 and I decided to re-read the books only to discover 3 more have been released since we last read them!

Yes, these books are geared towards kids (tween to teen ages if I remember correctly) but they are a fast read and super fun for the Disney lovers out there.

 

[yulilin3]

I haven't seen any posts lately on the "Kingdom Keepers" series by Ridley Pearson, so I'm not sure many of the DISers out there are familiar with these books about Disney World....(I first learned about them from the DIS several years ago).

As we prepare for our upcoming trip, my DD15 and I decided to re-read the books only to discover 3 more have been released since we last read them!

Yes, these books are geared towards kids (tween to teen ages if I remember correctly) but they are a fast read and super fun for the Disney lovers out there.

have them all!! my DD13 and I love them as well.

 

[Maleficent Dragon]

I really wanted to like these books, but I don't. The first one was the best. They have progressively become worse with each release. Pearson is a terrible writer. He attempts to be like Rowling, Lewis or Barry and he just doesn't even come close. Just an FYI: the 6th book in the series is very dark compared to the others and not for younger kids.

I know a lot of adults enjoy them; I think it is those who are either obsessed with Disney and they refuse to admit how terrible the writing is or they do not read well-written books to compare them to. My teenaged daughter read them and was shocked at the number of "Disney" mistakes, plot gaps and grammatical errors the books contain.

 

[tinkfan160]

Love them! As an avid reader and Disney lover, I got the first one many years ago out of a book order my mom brought home from the elementary school she works at on a total whim. I ended up loving it and got each consecutive book as soon as they came out. I am well aware that I am most likely a little above the age they are intended for, but I still can't wait to read each book as it comes out and it is fun to walk around the parks and think about what happened there in the books! I am impatiently waiting for the final book to come out in April. Something fun that you might not know is that the writing of the 7th book is being done with the author and a community of fans. If you visit the KK website you CNA create a free account and help write responses that could get used in the final book and vote on how you want events to happen. It also lets you have a sneak peak at the final book as its being written. It might be something you and your daughter enjoy!

 

[Evoga]

I was surprised they never tried to take the franchise further with either a video game or tv show. Then again i do find Disney parks to be very slow with any new hot franchise. The times i went looking for Rapunzel and Phineas and ferb toys when they were released and they had nothing in the parks. And gravity falls just seems to be left to dry which is a shame.

 

[ConnieB]

I really wanted to like these books, but I don't. The first one was the best. They have progressively become worse with each release. Pearson is a terrible writer. He attempts to be like Rowling, Lewis or Barry and he just doesn't even come close. Just an FYI: the 6th book in the series is very dark compared to the others and not for younger kids.

I know a lot of adults enjoy them; I think it is those who are either obsessed with Disney and they refuse to admit how terrible the writing is or they do not read well-written books to compare them to. My teenaged daughter read them and was shocked at the number of "Disney" mistakes, plot gaps and grammatical errors the books contain.

Totally agree with you! We listened to the first one on CD in the car doing errands and loved it.....met Ridley at WDW book signing shortly after.....saw him again when he and Dave came to a local bookstore for the 2nd book. The 2nd book was ok......and I think we listened to it more because we had expectations than with the eagerness that we kept wanting to get in the car to listen to more of the first book. We got the 3rd book and just never finished it....an extreme rarity for us. So we never bothered with the others, but from the synopsis and from reading what others wrote they were getting worse and since we still hadn't finished #3 we kinda gave up even trying knowing that the rest were likely worse.

If others enjoy them, more power to ya, but wanted to add our experience, so anyone discovering these books for the first time know some of the less than stellar reviews.

 

[kappyfamily]

I too enjoy these. Are they going to win any awards? No. But who cares. It's just a light easy read that has a fun plot at disneyworld..... Sorry I'm sure there were some grammatical errors in that.

 

[VMKYouAreMissed]

I really wanted to like these books, but I don't. The first one was the best. They have progressively become worse with each release. Pearson is a terrible writer. He attempts to be like Rowling, Lewis or Barry and he just doesn't even come close. Just an FYI: the 6th book in the series is very dark compared to the others and not for younger kids.

I know a lot of adults enjoy them; I think it is those who are either obsessed with Disney and they refuse to admit how terrible the writing is or they do not read well-written books to compare them to. My teenaged daughter read them and was shocked at the number of "Disney" mistakes, plot gaps and grammatical errors the books contain.

Totally agree with you! We listened to the first one on CD in the car doing errands and loved it.....met Ridley at WDW book signing shortly after.....saw him again when he and Dave came to a local bookstore for the 2nd book. The 2nd book was ok......and I think we listened to it more because we had expectations than with the eagerness that we kept wanting to get in the car to listen to more of the first book. We got the 3rd book and just never finished it....an extreme rarity for us. So we never bothered with the others, but from the synopsis and from reading what others wrote they were getting worse and since we still hadn't finished #3 we kinda gave up even trying knowing that the rest were likely worse.

If others enjoy them, more power to ya, but wanted to add our experience, so anyone discovering these books for the first time know some of the less than stellar reviews.

I'm with ya both. These books are horribly written. The stories lack substance and completion. My girls are 7 and 9 and once they got to book 3 they stopped because they said they were just not good. I have read all 6 and the only good part about each one is the end.

 

[VMKYouAreMissed]

I too enjoy these. Are they going to win any awards? No. But who cares. It's just a light easy read that has a fun plot at disneyworld..... Sorry I'm sure there were some grammatical errors in that.

Wow, defensive!!!! What do you gain by making smart aleck comments and having an ugly tone just because somebody doesn't agree with your assessment on some books? I hope you are not like that about everything, because people are not always going to see things the way you do.


ETA: I wish they did have a fun plot, then they would be a good read. The plot is never completed in each book. He starts out in gear 5 and drops to gear 1 (in a completely different vehicle) half-way through every single one of the books.

 

[VMKYouAreMissed]

I was surprised they never tried to take the franchise further with either a video game or tv show. Then again i do find Disney parks to be very slow with any new hot franchise. The times i went looking for Rapunzel and Phineas and ferb toys when they were released and they had nothing in the parks. And gravity falls just seems to be left to dry which is a shame.

There is rumor of a Keepers movie. I read that they considered doing the series of the movies after the announcement of 7 books, but due to the story quality it became a no-go. The initial idea was to do a Harry Potter style release, but the kids would grow up much much faster than in the books since it all takes place in just a few years. I don't think the idea of making the first book into a movie is completely out from Disney's perspective, but from what I read nobody wanted to produce it after reading the first book. I think that was on the Rotten Tomatoes site??

 

[Schmeck]

Peter and the Starcatchers is a better series, IMO. Pearson co-authored with Dave Barry. The last book takes place in modern times, and has a WDW tie-in.

 

[PoohsFan1]

I really wanted to like these books, but I don't. The first one was the best. They have progressively become worse with each release. Pearson is a terrible writer. He attempts to be like Rowling, Lewis or Barry and he just doesn't even come close. Just an FYI: the 6th book in the series is very dark compared to the others and not for younger kids.

I know a lot of adults enjoy them; I think it is those who are either obsessed with Disney and they refuse to admit how terrible the writing is or they do not read well-written books to compare them to. My teenaged daughter read them and was shocked at the number of "Disney" mistakes, plot gaps and grammatical errors the books contain.

I really wanted to like them too, my DD12 is a huge fan of the series and has just started reading the 6th book. My DD had me read the first book and I just couldn't get into it, I wanted but couldn't. It didn't have anything to do with Pearson's writing ability, I just thought the plot was a little boring. DD12 said I should of stuck with it because, according to her, it gets better as the series goes on. But then again this is coming from a 12 year old.

 

[BAMLuvMickey]

My son loved the first one but had a hard time getting into the second one. He read the first few chapters, told me he thought it was boring, and went back to reading the wimpy kid series(for the tenth time)...

i thought the first one was excellent. keep telling my self to read the second one, but my harlan coben addiction keeps me away from it...

 

[Brian_WDW74]

While the Kingdom Keepers books mention several theme parks attractions, they're fiction and not really a suitable topic for the Theme Parks Attractions and Strategies forum. So I've moved this thread to the Disney Movies, Books, TV and Music forum.

 

[JRawkSteady]

I enjoyed the first one..but I couldn't get past the fact that the book was terribly unresearched. Soo many things that didn't make sense (to a WDW fan). So, because of that, I just couldn't continue. I really wish he would have done more fact checking. C'est la vie.

 

[ConnieB]

I enjoyed the first one..but I couldn't get past the fact that the book was terribly unresearched. Soo many things that didn't make sense (to a WDW fan). So, because of that, I just couldn't continue. I really wish he would have done more fact checking. C'est la vie.

Ridley claims to have had access to walking around inside rides, going into back spaces and everything you'd think would mean extensive research.....but I think he changed a lot to fit the needs of the story instead of going for purely accurate.

 

[poohguys]

DS12 does not like to read, but loves Disney World so I got the first book figuring he might like it. He was not thrilled. I read books one and two quickly. I am now on book 3 and having a tough time getting through it. I do want to read them all.

 

[Pikezh638]

I didn't think they were bad, sure they weren't the best thing I have read, but it was disney so I plowed through it.

The last book was pretty hard to power through, I really think the first 3-4 were the "best."

 

[DisneyMarv]

i am still on the second book, i loved the first book though. and i have to agree that the second one is quite boring.

 

[mmdisneylover]

I haven't seen any posts lately on the "Kingdom Keepers" series by Ridley Pearson, so I'm not sure many of the DISers out there are familiar with these books about Disney World....(I first learned about them from the DIS several years ago).

As we prepare for our upcoming trip, my DD15 and I decided to re-read the books only to discover 3 more have been released since we last read them!

Yes, these books are geared towards kids (tween to teen ages if I remember correctly) but they are a fast read and super fun for the Disney lovers out there.

I have read the first 3 reading the 4th one now, I'm 41 and I enjoy the books because it is all about Disney. I am trying to talk my kids into reading them but they do most reading in the winter not so much in te summer, so ill see. I still loved the first and second one the best but I like them all.