The Blue Djinn of Babylon – P. B. Kerr

Author: P. B. Kerr
Title: The Blue Djinn of Babylon (Children of the Lamp Series, Book Two)
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication Date: 2006
Age range: 10 - 14
Genre: Fantasy (Series)
Rating: 1 2 3 4 5

Plot summary: Philippa and John Gaunt are 12 year old twins who find out they are descended from a line of djinn (who happen to dislike the word "genie"). They live in New York City with their wealthy parents, but have more fun and adventure whenever they visit with their uncle Nimrod, who divides his time between London and Cairo. All over the world there are various tribes of djinn, and they tend to be generally good or generally evil. Djinn are responsible for controlling the world's supply of luck, and, ideally, the balance is kept in homeostasis, for the benefit of humankind. Through this constant struggle, there is one ruling power, the Blue Djinn of Babylon, who steps in when things fall too out of whack, and metes out punishment if necessary. Her word is law.

In this, the second volume of the series, Philippa practices playing the famous djinn game of bluffing, Djinnverso, and enters the youth tournament. She attracts the attention of some of the enemy tribes of djinn, as well as the notice of the Blue Djinn of Babylon, who is on the lookout for her replacement. The Blue Djinn kidnaps Philippa after framing her for cheating in the tournament (all for the greater good), and brings her to the ancient (now underground) city of Babylon. The location is also the former Biblical Garden of Good and Evil, with a tree of logic that produces fruit and emits a scent which hardens one's heart to emotional involvement and allows the Blue Djinn to dispense justice fairly. John sets out to rescue Philippa with the help of his uncle Nimrod, one-armed chauffeur Mr. Groanin, and the family dogs, Alan and Neil, who happen to be the twins' uncles (they were formerly human). John must navigate a series of challenges, the first of which is infiltrating a US army base in Iraq – the series includes some awareness of current events, even as it hints at millennia of djinn involvement in human affairs. In the time that it takes John to reach Philippa, she has been changed by exposure to the tree of logic, but the bond between twins is stronger, and John manages to save her.

Comments: This is a well-written series and John and Philippa are a lot of fun because although they share an extremely close bond and value each other's strengths, they also get frustrated with each other and behave like normal siblings. Although some of the coincidences in the series are too good to be true, it wonderful that Kerr inserts many exotic locations and tidbits about customs in foreign countries and cultures. Young adults could learn a lot about other places and perhaps be inspired to travel. This book ends on a cliffhanger, with some of the loose ends from the story not tied up – like one of the enemy djinn whom Philippa, John and Nimrod helped to imprison in the first book escaping his sentence from the Blue Djinn and tipping the balance of luck into the bad area once again. Also, it is not clear who will take over from the Blue Djinn when she dies, which will be shortly as she knows she is reaching the end of her lifeline. There are a couple of candidates – Philippa's mother has agreed to take her daughter's place, though she hasn't told her family, and Nimrod has also come up with a possible candidate in the meantime. I see on Amazon that the fifth book in this series has just been released this month, and while at Spring Garden Public Library looking for book two after I read book one, I saw that they had up to book four as well, so they've been adding to the collection as these books are released.

Great Dialog at djinn tournament (where no magic can be used, so djinn use wit to insult each other – it's tradition!):
"'Clever boy,' smiled Izaak [a sneaky djinn]. You're not as dumb as you look.'
'I can always read another book,' said John. 'But you'll always be ugly.'
Izaak grinned. 'You're quite good at this insult thing.'
'I have a sister', said John. 'I get plenty of practice.'"

Dates Read: 17 January – 20 January