Gregor the Overlander

Gregor the Overlander is a great book by the talented author Suzanne Collins.  It is the first book in a series of five.  I would recommend it for kids ages 12 and up.  I read it a little early.  This is a book that I have read over and over again.  It does not lose it's novelty after you have read it once.

In this story Gregor, the main character, lives in a small apartment with his grandmother, mother, and two little sisters.  When playing with his two year old sister in the laundry room he falls through an air vent for miles and ends up underground.  While there he meets multiple gigantic cockroaches.  Thanks to his sister, who fell with him, they are delivered to the Regailans.  They are a pale colony of humans that live underground.  After attempting to escape and failing miserably he learns that his lost father had fallen in before him and is in the hands of the evil rats.  

In a race against time he goes off on a quest with other Regailans in an attempt to gain his father back and return home safely.  The best part about this book is that it has amazing realism to it.  At the end of the book you will find yourself thinking that your laundry grate can deliver you to an underground world.  Kudos to Suzanne Collins for that!  

I think that kids who like fast moving action books with a cliffhanger at the end of every chapter would love this book because that is exactly what it is like.  She even leaves a cliffhanger at the end of the book.  I give this book a five star rating!