Title: Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins, ISBN 0-439-43536-6, Scholastic Press, 2003. 308 pp.

Genre: Fantasy

Characters: The main character is Gregor, an eleven-year-old boy who is faced with many challenges throughout the book and is usually able to overcome them with the help of some of his mismatched companions.  His two-year-old sister Margaret, or “Boots” accompanies him on his journey and ends up getting him in and out of a lot of sticky situations.  The rest of the characters are inhabitants of the “Underland” and include the somewhat snooty, soon-to-be Queen of Regalia Luxa, her cousin Henry, her mentor (and Grandfather) Vikus, and an array of uncanny creatures such as four-foot cockroaches, six-foot rats, and bats with a wingspan of over fourteen feet!  These odd characters make for an amusing group of pilgrims, or “questers” as Gregor calls them, in the journey across the Underland.

Plot: Gregor is a regular kid growing up in a New York City apartment with his mother, grandmother, and his two sisters.  When his father mysteriously disappeared almost three years ago, Gregor became the man of the household and was given the responsibility of looking after his younger sisters and his senile grandmother while his mother worked.  For this reason, he can’t go to summer camp with all the other kids, and is at the beginning of what appears to be another long, boring summer.  His biggest responsibility is his two-year-old sister Boots whom he can’t let out of his sight, and must take with him on all of his mundane chores.

A regular trip to the laundry room in the basement of their apartment building turns out to be a lot more exciting than he had expected when Boots stumbles upon an entranceway to another world: the Underland.  They both get sucked into the Underland and find themselves facing dangers they would never have dreamed of back home in New York.  Lucky for them, the giant cockroaches take a liking to Boots and decide to escort them both to Regalia, a place where humans with purple eyes, silver hair and translucent skin dwell.

The humans believe that Gregor has come from the Overland to fulfill a prophecy that was written hundreds of years ago, ‘The Prophecy of Gray,’ and want to send him on a perilous journey through the Underland.  Despite his efforts to convince them that he is not the warrior they think he is, Gregor sets off with his sister on the back of a giant bat to his uncertain destiny.  His only hope is that he can find his way back home to his mother without being killed in the process.

Many things happen during his adventure, and Gregor makes a lot of new friends and enemies along the way.  He discovers things about himself and his little sister that he wouldn’t have known otherwise, is given some answers about his missing father, and realises that he might have a larger role to play in ‘The Prophecy of Gray’ than he first thought.  The biggest fear among the travellers are the vicious giant rats who are sworn enemies to the humans and will do anything to prevent them completing their quest.

 Comments: Gregor the Overlander is a pleasure to read, and although it starts out as though it is just another children’s fantasy novel, it proves to be unique and entertaining on more than one level.  Issues of trust, loyalty, friendship and betrayal are explored, and concepts of good and evil are not as clearly defined as one might expect.  The importance of family is stressed, as well as the need for people to have hope for the future, and to persevere even in the face of failure.  Learning not to judge people on first impressions, and finding friendship in the least likely of places are two of the main strengths of this story’s protagonist, and much can be learned from his willingness to think for himself and make decisions despite what others tell him.  This book would be fitting for students anywhere between grade 4 and grade 9.

Touchy Areas: There are a few battle scenes, but nothing too graphic.

 Related Titles:

Books:  The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien; The Neverending Story by Michael Ende;

            The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster; Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh

            by Robert C. O'brien

Films: Labyrinth (1986); The Dark Crystal (1982);

Reviewed by Tyler Perry, University of Alberta, tperry@ualberta.ca