Reading Chronology: Erin Hunter: Bamboo Kingdom

The pandas of the Bamboo Kingdom have never forgotten the great flood that ended the peaceful life they'd always known. But for three young creatures born that day, the flood marks not an end, but a beginning--the beginning of their struggles to find a place in very different worlds. Leaf, raised in the sparse Northern Forest, works tirelessly to help her family find bamboo to eat; Rain, hot-tempered, refuses to accept a suspicious new leader in her Southern Forest community; and Ghost, clumsy and uncoordinated, worries he'll never fit in with his hunter family in the mountains. None of them know that the others are out there, but thanks to a mysterious tiger that's been threatening the Kingdom, they will soon find each other--and fulfill a prophecy that had been made long before they were born.

For three pandas in the Bamboo Kingdom, secrets have changed everything. Rain, Ghost, and Leaf have only just discovered the truth about their families--but they don't have all the facts. And while they attempt to piece together the puzzle of their pasts, a threat is growing ever stronger in their homeland--a liar masquerading as a leader. Sunset, the so-called Dragon Speaker, has his own agenda, and the discovery of the triplets from an ancient prophecy will only get in his way. While Rain and Leaf struggle to agree on the next right moves, Ghost, struggling to adapt to panda life, falls under Sunset's spell. Separated, the three panda siblings are left without the information they need to take the traitorous Dragon Speaker down. But if they can find each other--and trust each other--they may be able to rally the pandas of the Bamboo Kingdom to their side.

The triplets of the Bamboo Kingdom are ready to step into their roles as Dragon Speakers. But in order to fulfill their destiny, they first need to find each other. With Ghost stuck performing as wicked Sunset's right-hand man and Rain and Leaf separated across far-flung corners of the land, a reunion feels impossible. Sunset's plans to rule the Bamboo Kingdom are only becoming more nefarious. If the siblings are going to make it all the way across the Bamboo Kingdom to the Dragon Mountain, they're going to need to face their greatest fears. But little do they know that help can come from the unlikeliest of places--and that fate, one way or another, always finds a way.

The Bamboo Kingdom is once again safely led by guidance of a real Dragon Speaker--three Dragon Speakers, in fact! But a troubling vision from the Great Dragon warns of a "Dark Sun" coming soon. And while Rain, Leaf, and Ghost argue amongst themselves about what it means, the monkeys are hatching a plan to use this moment of uncertainty to their best advantage...Unless the pandas learn to trust each other, their biggest challenges may still lurk on the horizon...

The three Dragon Speakers must face their own troubles before they can help the Bamboo Kingdom regain peace. After being forced out of Rain’s camp for a murder he did not commit, Ghost is still determined to prove his innocence. And though Rain isn’t convinced Ghost is guilty, she knows that if it wasn’t him, that means the killer is still at large—and still targeting her loved ones. As Ghost sets out to reunite both of his families, Leaf is nowhere to be found, and the monkeys are watching their every move. With only piecemeal guidance from a Great Dragon that’s been split in three, how can they hope to stop what Brawnshanks is planning?

The three Dragon Speakers have one last chance to reunite the Great Dragon and bring peace to Bamboo Kingdom. But they face insurmountable odds. After being betrayed by someone they called friend, Rain and Ghost know that the monkeys have more plans in store—especially now that Brawnshanks holds a Dragon Speaker stone. Meanwhile, Leaf must find the strength to become a Dragon Speaker again and reunite with her siblings to stop Brawnshanks...before it's too late. Yet an even greater enemy waits in the shadows—one that no one will see coming.