By Colorado Kids Advisory Board member Caroline Hale

Title: Gregor The Overlander
Author: Suzanne Collins
Illustrator: Daniel Craig (jacket illustrator)
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Number of Pages: 311

It started out as a fairly normal New York City day for Gregor-the stifling heat surrounding everyone with no air conditioning to turn on, and having to take care of his two-year-old sister, Boots. That is, until Boots and Gregor both get sucked into a dryer in their apartment's laundry room, and fall for five minutes straight down this weird chute, where they are met at the bottom by a crowd of giant, talking, cockroaches. Unfortunately for Gregor and Boots, talking cockroaches are the smallest of the beastly dangers waiting for them in the Underland, and suddenly the day doesn't seem so typical anymore. The roaches, after some consideration of trading them to the rats as food, decide to take Gregor and Boots to the humans of this bizarre world-the Underlanders. As it turns out, the Underlanders have been waiting a long time for Gregor to visit. And just wait until you find out what they have in store!

Gregor The Overlander is the fantastic first novel of Suzanne Collins. It's 311 pages are over flowing with adventure, memorable characters, and edge-of-your-seat suspense. Just when you think that you've got the whole thing understood, the plot takes a new unexpected twist, catching your interest again. One thing that I didn't like much about this book was that it was very fast paced, so I'd sometimes have to read a section over twice to make sure I understood it all. However, I would definitely recommend this book. People who enjoy this book will also probably like Trials Of Death by Darren Shan, one of the books in the Cirque Du Freak series. I think that this book is best for people ages 10-13, because it has some hard vocabulary and a fairly complex plot. (December, 2003)