You can read all five books of Gregor the Overlander straight. That is what I did. They are that good and I recommend getting the series so you don't have to spend the time finding and buying each book. Gregor was 11 years old when he dropped into the Underland from his laundry room in New York City. He had followed his irrepressible, outgoing, little sister Boots, when she wandered into the entrance to the Underland through a loose panel on the wall. For about a year, he had made numerous trips into the Underland, having adventures that are as creative and imaginative as any I have read, involving bats, cockroaches, rats, mice, ants, fireflies, snakes, lizards, and of course human underlanders with violet eyes, including one who took his heart.
The children ranged from 2 to 13, running the entire gamut of personalities that children can have, from charismatic to repressed, giggly to dead serious, and from smart to wise. The adults and their relationships were likewise diverse and complex. This is not only a children's book but one that is thought provoking for adults. It has poetry, riddles, rhymes, and prophecies. The plot ties together very satisfactorily at the end. It has heart stopping suspense and a plot that gallops away. It has an adult vocabulary but Gregor and the other characters demand definitions of words they cannot understand from the adults who use the words, a nifty literary device. Suzanne Collins has great insight into children and their behavior, as well as parents.
Suzanne Collins is of course the writer of *Hunger Games*, which is aimed at an older teenage audience and became the most successful movie adaptation of a book series since Harry Potter. The natural question is whether *Gregor the Overlander* will also become a movie. Unless it is done as a cartoon, it is difficult to imagine how they will find the actors to portray Boots the 2 year old, the bats, the cockroaches, the rats, the mice, the spiders, and the myriad of other creatures that play such critical roles in the books. Any attempt to depict the characters will restrict what readers will have imagined each creature to look like. In the end, a movie will not be good for the book. On the other hand, an audio version of the book would work.
In my opinion, Suzanne Collins is simply the best writer of children books today. Unlike J. R. Rowling's Harry Potter series, both *Hunger Games* and *Gregor the Overlander* are much more tightly plotted with attention paid to wrapping up every detail. From the beginning to end, there is a continuity in the Gregor series that results from the prophesies given at the beginning of each book but also in children songs sung by Boots and other children in the books. At the same time, the book leaves a lot to the reader's imagination. I am pretty sure that any imagery provided in a movie will be poorer than those created from the words of this book. In the end, this book is a clear example of why books are better than movies because they engage the imagination of the reader more.
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Isabelle Mitchell
As good for adults as for children
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