I first met Ridley Pearson in 1988 on his tour for Undercurrents, as he, along with Lou Boldt and Daphne Matthews, made there way to Tower Books in east Portland.  It was my first author signing and I was electrified as I stood in line waiting for him to sign my lone copy of Undercurrents.  I still have that book.  He inscribed it, “To John, watch out for The Angel Maker, Ridley Pearson.”  From that day forward I have been a book collector, and as such have every book he has written since.

Boldt and Matthews became regular visitors to my house each year.  In off years they would send others in their place, sometimes Chris Klick and more recently Walt Fleming.  There was even an odd visit one year by Ellen Rimbauer.

The excitement grew to a fever pitch when Peter and the Starcatchers reached our home.  Mitchell was 7 at the time and Evan had just turned 4.  Every evening we would read from “Starcatchers.”  The conclusion of each night’s reading you could hear the echo of young boy voices “one more chapter dad!”  We read the sequels in the same way, as Peter and the Shadow Thieves, Peter and the Secret of Rundoon, and Peter and the Sword of Mercy finally arrived.

Ridley with co-author Dave Barry

The boys are older now, (more…)

For those who wonder what happens inside Disney World after the gates close at night, you’ll find the answers in the Kingdom Keepers series by Ridley Pearson.

When Disney Imagineers installed hologram guides for the Magic Kingdom using teenage models, they had no idea the technology might backfire.  But backfire it did: some nights when the kids go to sleep, they wake up in one of the Disney parks as a hologram.

In Kingdom Keepers III, Finn, Philby, Willa, Charlene, and Maybeck are back as they search to find Wayne, their mentor and head Imagineer who has mysteriously gone missing.  Concerned that Wayne has been abducted by the Overtakers-Disney villains who, along with other Disney characters, take over the parks when the turnstiles stop spinning.  They desperately want to steer the parks to a far darker place.  The five kids pick up a major clue from a close friend, Jez, whose dreams often accurately predict the future. The clue leads the kids to… (more…)