Gregor the Overlander is Suzanne Collins' (of Hunger Games fame) first novel. I read that she was inspired by thinking about what kids who grew up in a city would experience if they fell down an "Alice in Wonderland hole". So, she came up with this tale of adventure. Gregor is a 12 year old boy who lives in New York City with his mom, grandma and 2 younger sisters. One day while Gregor is working on laundry his 2 year old sister (Boots) starts to wander near a clanking vent. Gregor goes to investigate and the two fall down a hole to the Underland. In the Underland, Gregor and Boots go on a quest to find their father who has been captured by the Rats, bring together the communities of humans, roaches, spiders and bats, and save the Underlanders' home.
This is a pretty good book. Not as good as Hunger Games, but a decent first novel. There are more books in the series, but I am not invested enough in the Underland to keep reading them.
I also read A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Bad Beginning, by Lemony Snickett. This is the first of 13 books to tell the tale of the Baudelaire children. Their parents are killed in a huge house fire that destroys everything they know. They are taken in at first by Mr. Poe - a family friend and executor of their parents' estate. After a few uncomfortable days at the Poe house (with the Poe's two snotty sons, ugly clothes and boredom), Mr. Poe takes them to live with Count Olaf - a distant relative who lives in the city.
Things at Olaf's house are even worse than at the Poe house. The children must do extremely difficult chores each day and they must live with the three of them in one crummy room with only one bed and a refrigerator box for their closet. On top of all that, the children learn that Olaf is attempting to get their inheritance - a huge fortune that will go to Violet (the oldest child) when she "comes of age". He has some very intricate plots and the children have to foil them in order to survive. But, being a series of unfortunate events, the children manage to get out of Olaf's current trap, but the end of the book alludes that the next adventures the Baudelaire children have are even worse than this one!This is a great story that I really enjoyed. One of my favorite literary elements of the story is that the author explains all the various idioms that he uses. He will says something and then say "...in this case means..." and explain it. I think it would be good for young readers or readers who struggle to understand idioms. It is also a quick read - at less than 150 pages it would not be overwhelming to sit down and read.
Well, that's it for now. There will be more, but the next book I've started is a bit longer. Until then!
