Nerdgirl: Geeking out over Disney theme parks, 'Kingdom Keepers'

One of the best things in life? Imagination. It still boggles me how one little thought could blossom into a mega empire with legions of fans. <>

But I digress.

Ridley Pearson of St. Louis let his imagination run wild and came up with the best-selling and beloved young adult series, "The Kingdom Keepers." The books, which have a fan base ranging in age from about 8 to 80, center around the Disney theme parks in Florida and California and what would happen if — gasp! — villains seized control of the parks. Good vs. evil. Dark vs. light. Kingdom Keepers vs. the Overtakers.

Now traveling on his book tour for "Kingdom Keepers: The Return: Disney Lands," Pearson, who had book signings at Downtown Disney's Once Upon a Toy and Hollywood Studios in Orlando earlier this week, chatted with me about researching at the Disney Archives, fan reaction and what's next for his characters.

Two questions from our interview really stood out:

• Of all the feedback you've gotten from fans, what is most memorable?

He explains the Kingdom Keepers insider app (megafans, you know about this one) and how it allowed readers to have a say in the final book. Its popularity surprised him in the best way possible: "At one point, we had 157,000 kids from around the world writing for the book," he said, adding he solicited for "pithy sayings" that could run at the start of a chapter or different sections. Insider app users, he said, "came up with the coolest ideas."

This type of feedback *always* makes me smile: "The other side is that you hear from parents of young readers who are either stuck or uninterested," Pearson explained. "They say, 'little Johnny wouldn't read a book, so we started reading (the series) to him and now he reads it, and he can't get enough.' That is the best reward."

• The super power of social media, let's discuss.

"For an author it's the ultimate. It used to be that you received letters from readers. That takes a lot of effort to get out a pen and paper, and you still get a lot of letters. Once email came along ... I think the really great thing about social media is, it opens up the readers to get to know each other. These groups form on Twitter and Facebook and elsewhere, where the readers get into the books in a way that even I don't get into them.

"I realized there were a lot of readers that knew these books better than I. They're into the books, they're into the characters. It's fun for a writer because you see this world beyond your world. You're able to participate in it."

On a recent trip to the Disney Archives in California, Pearson's associate Tweeted that he was heading to Disneyland.

"Within one minute, we had eight different groups that came up to me," he recalled. "It really shocked me how fast all this is now. Everybody's got their Instagram alarm that goes, 'Bam! Ridley's in the park.' It's pretty incredible. It certainly shrunk the world of a writer."

Contact Sangalang at 321-242-3630

or jsangalang@floridatoday.com.

Twitter: @byjensangalang

Book signings

•2 p.m. April 11 at Books-A-Million, 2605 W. Osceola Parkway, Kissimmee. Call 407-552-0077.

•1 p.m. April 12 at Barnes & Noble, 11802 N. Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa. Call 813-962-6446.

Keep up with 'Kingdom Keepers'

On Twitter: @kk_alliance@ridleypearson #kingdomkeepers

Online: ridleypearson.com