Gregor the Overlander by Collins is a delightful and imaginative children's tale. Eleven-year-old Gregor thinks that he is going to spend the summer stuck in New York City watching his two-year-old sister Boots while all the other neighborhood kids set off for camp. Then an ordinary trip to the laundry room changes everything as Boots falls into an air shaft with Gregor plunging after her. After a long fall, the two miraculous land safely in the Underworld where Boots is thrilled to meet a group of giant cockroaches. The crawlers take the two to an arena filled with the people and large bats of the Underworld who quickly escort them to the city of Regalia. Gregor's first attempt to return home comes to an abrupt end as he finds himself face to face with two very large rats, but his new friends quickly rescue him and return him and his sister safely to their city. The murder of the two rats is just the excuse that the rat king needs to declare war on the humans of the underworld. The only hope is found in a prophecy declaring that an overland warrior will lead an expedition whose outcome will determine the survival or extinction of the Underworld population. Whether he feels like a warrior or not, Gregor has no choice but to try and perhaps in the process even find and save his missing father.
After a string of books with some very dark villains, I was looking for something light and fun and picked Gregor the Overlander up to preread for my 9yo son. The tale is delightfully told with a mixture of action to move the tale along interspersed with humor (arising chiefly from the words and actions of the 2yo). I thoroughly enjoyed it and quickly assigned it to my son to read for literature in hopes of getting him hooked so that he'll want to read the remainder of the series himself. I would recommend this for ages 7 and up and am looking forward to reading the remaining books in the series in the upcoming weeks.
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