The Blue Djinn of Babylon

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The Blue Djinn of Babylon is a novel by P.B. Kerr which tells the story of John and Philippa Gaunt and their adventures as djinn. It is the second book of the Children of the Lamp series. The book earned a place on the New York Times Best Seller list for children's books and received generally favorable reviews.

After having promised their mother not to use their djinn powers without consulting her first, John and Philippa are leading pretty normal lives. Events start to go astray when they go to a Djinnverso tournament (also called Djinnversoctoannular, is djinn game of bluffing) and Philippa is framed as a cheater. The twins also learn that the famed book Solomon Grimoire is missing. The Solomon Grimoire gives the Blue Djinn of Babylon, the nominal ruler of all djinn, much of her power. The twins go in search of the missing book which leads them to more danger and adventures.

It turns out that the Solomon Grimoire is not missing, but instead was being used as a trap. The Blue Djinn of Babylon, the twins' grandmother, wished to kidnap Philippa so that she would be the next Blue Djinn. John goes in search of Philippa, who is being held at the Blue Djinn's secret palace and the twin's favorite uncle, Nimrod, goes in search of an acceptable atlernative to Philippa to be the next Blue Djinn. The book alternates between John's search of Philippa, told in third person narration, and Philippa's experiences, told in first person in the form of a diary. Philippa discovers that the Blue Djinn's powers to be beyond good and evil come from the Garden of Eden's tree of logic. Slowly Philippa loses her humanity as the tree has greater effects on her. John, in his search of the palace, faces numerous obstacles, aided by the help of his uncles, who were turned into dogs by his mother and The Bellili Scrolls. The book climaxes when John reaches the palace and manages to rescue Philippa. The twins are joined by their mother, Layla, and it is revealed that the Blue Djinn did not wish Philippa, but her mother, to be the next Blue Djinn. While the twin's mother does offer to take Philippa's place, instead Nimrod finds an acceptable alternative. However, the twin's mother had to break her vow never to use djinn powers and now has been drawn into the on going conflict between the good tribes of djinn (the Marid, Jann and Jinn) who promote good luck and the evil tribes (Shaitan, Ghul and Ifrit) who promote bad luck.