Gregor the Overlander

SUZANNE COLLINS'S

Gregor the Overlander

CONTENTS

About the Author

Q&A with Suzanne Collins

Create Your Own Underland

Creepy Crawly Critters

Boots's Decoder Game

A Sneak Peek at Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane: Book Two in the Underland Chronicles

After Words^TM guide by Jennifer Rees

About the Author

Thinking one day about Alice in Wonderland, Suzanne Collins was struck by how pastoral the setting must seem to kids who, like her own kids, lived in urban surroundings. In New York City, you're much more likely to fall down a manhole into the sewer than a rabbit hole, and if you do, you're not going to find a tea party. What might you find? The answer to this question can be found in Collins's first novel, Gregor the Overlander. Like Alice, Gregor takes a very long fall beneath his world and finds another strange place.

Gregor the Overlander is the first in a five-part series entitled The Underland Chronicles. In each book, Gregor must find the courage and moral fortitude to deal with a different aspect of war.

Although Gregor the Overlander is Suzanne Collins's first novel, she is not a stranger to writing for kids. Since 1991 she has had a successful and prolific career writing for children's television. She has worked on the staffs of several Nickelodeon shows, including the Emmy-nominated hit Clarissa Explains It All and The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo. She has also worked on shows such as Maurice Sendak's Little Bear, Oswald the Octopus, and Clifford's Puppy Days.

Suzanne Collins currently lives in Connecticut with her family.

Q&A with Suzanne Collins

Q: Of all the places Gregor could have traveled to, why the Underland?

A: I liked the fact that this world was teeming under New York City and nobody was aware of it. That you could be going along preoccupied with your own problems and then -- whoosh! -- you take a wrong turn in your laundry room and suddenly a giant cockroach is right in your face. No magic, no space or time travel, there's just a ticket to another world behind your clothes dryer.

Q: Are you anything like Gregor?

A: I think I'm like Gregor because we both want to do the right thing but sometimes have trouble figuring out what it is. Also, neither of us likes to ride rollercoasters, and we've both changed a lot of diapers.

But Gregor is much braver than I am ... if I even see a regular-sized rat in New York City, I immediately cross the street.

Q: Many people think bats, rats, cockroaches, and spiders are creepy! Did you have to get over your fear of any (or all!) of them to write this story?

A: I wish I could say that after I researched the creepy animals I was no longer at all afraid of them ... but that would be a big fib! Cockroaches aren't really scary, just a little germy, so I don't mind them much. I love bats ... except these really loud ones that get in my attic in the summer and hold some kind of party there all night long. Spiders still scare me some, although I'm also fascinated by them and I can happily watch them from a distance. But rats ... not pet rats, but the wild kind ... I will always have what I consider to be a healthy fear of rats. You should, too.

Q: Did you have a sibling who, like Boots, got you into a world of trouble?

A: I have two older sisters and one older brother and hold them largely responsible for the trouble I got into growing up. I believe, as the youngest child, that is my right.

Q: Have you ever lived in New York City?

A: I lived in New York City for 16 years, from 1987 to?oo3. But when I was growing up, we moved all the time because my dad was in the Air Force. We were mostly in the eastern half of the U.S. and in Europe but, like Gregor, I definitely know what it feels like to be a stranger somewhere.

Q: If you had to go to the Underland, what items would you take along with you? And who would you take with you?

A: I'd take all the flashlights and batteries I could find. I'd also take chocolate and a bottle of water, because I don't like traveling without either of these things. I would wear very comfortable clothes and sneakers ... in case I had to run.

My husband, Cap, would be great to have in the Underland, since he is very good in an emergency, but I'd want him to be with our kids up in the Overland so I'd know they were in safe hands.

(Note: Cap says he would not take me to the Underland because I am not good in an emergency and I would constantly make him stop and ask for directions. Both of these things are true.)

So I think I would take my good friend Christopher Santos with me instead, because he is very diplomatic and travels a lot and seems at ease in foreign places. Also, he would never make loud, mean remarks about the creatures which could get a person into all kinds of trouble.

In the Underland, I would make it my first order of business to hook up with a couple of bats because, let's face it, without a bat you're probably going to end up as someone's lunch.

Q: Have you ever been lost and wanted to find your way home?

A: All the time. I have a terrible sense of direction. I get lost practically every time I leave my house. Fortunately, people are usually very kind about giving you directions if you ask politely.

Q: If you could invite one of the characters to have dinner with your family, who would it be ? What might you cook for them? What questions would you ask them?

A: I would invite Ripred to dinner because I think he would tell the most interesting stories. We would have to serve shrimp in cream sauce because this is his favorite dish of all.

Just to irritate him, I would tell him he had to use a napkin in order to get dessert. He would use the napkin, because dessert would be a fabulous chocolate cake and he loves food, but I bet he would glare at me the whole time.

I would ask all kinds of questions about being a rat, and living alone in the Dead Land, and about his family. Ripred sometimes sneaks up to the Overland, so I would ask him his opinion of New York City, too.

After dinner, we'd play Scrabble.

Q: All fun aside for a moment, Gregor is also about war and battling forces and survival. Can you tell us a bit about this?

A: Gregor falls into a fantastical world, but he's really acting out the main role in a war story. Almost as soon as he arrives in the Underland, he's recognized as the "warrior" of the prophecies and he's called upon to undertake what are essentially a series of military missions. For instance, in Book I, he goes into enemy territory to rescue a prisoner of war who also happens to be his dad. It's never described as such, but that's what's really happening.

As the series continues, Gregor is faced with increasingly difficult quests and choices as the Underland breaks into a massive global war. His struggle to survive -- both physically and spiritually -- forms the arc of the Underland Chronicles.

Create Your Own Underland

1. Things you will need to get started:

* a notebook and some sketching paper

* writing/drawing utensils of your choice (pencils, pens, colored pencils, markers)

* a good place to think

* your imagination

* Choose your rabbit hole

Alice fell down the rabbit hole to Wonderland. Gregor fell down a grate behind the laundry room dryer to the Underland. Where do you think you might find the way to your Underland? Think about the things you do each day and the places you go. Maybe your way to the Underland is hidden in one of your favorite places, like your bedroom, your treehouse, or the mall. Maybe the way to your Underland is, like Gregor's, in a boring but unexpected place. List some of your favorite places, then list some of the places you go to everyday that might seem boring, but would actually be very surprising if they led to another world. Look at your list and decide: Where will the way to your Underland be? Make a drawing of that place, and make sure to include the path to your Underland.

3. How Underland is your Underland?

Next, it's time to think about what your Underland will look like. Will it be a dark place? A cold place? A pretty place? A creepy place? Will it be the place of your dreams? Will it hold challenges for getting around (waterfalls, mountains, etc.)? Now do several drawings of your Underland. You can even draw a map and name the different regions.

4. Who goes there?

Who will inhabit this Underland? Humans, animals, or both? Will they be good or bad? Will they be funny, helpful, rude, or kind? What will they look like? What kinds of things will they like to do? Sketch several of the characters you will meet in the Underland and write a brief description of each one. Make sure to give them names -- that's the fun part!

5. Travel much?

Now that you know what your Underland looks like and who will live there, it's time to decide: Will you go to the Underland alone? Or will you take someone with you? If you're going to have a companion, draw a picture of this person and yourself, and list the reasons why you want to take them along.

6. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Congratulations, you have your Underland! It's time now to write a story about how you get there and what happens to you (and the person who accompanies you) when you fall inside. Then the real fun begins: Write the story (or stories!) of what happens when you get there. Remember: Don't forget to come up for air every once in a while!

Creepy Crawly Critters

Let's face it: Bats, spiders, rats, and cockroaches are creepy! And if you think they live only in the Underland (and not right under your own roof), you're in for a big surprise. Just how well do you know the bats, spiders, rats, and cockroaches in your neighborhood?

Bats

* A colony of 150 big brown bats can protect local farmers from up to 33 million or more rootworms each summer.

* The common brown bat of North America is the world's longest-living mammal for its size, with a life-span sometimes exceeding 30 years.

* All mammals can contract rabies, though less than half of one percent of bats do. Bats normally bite only in self-defense and pose little threat to people who do not handle them.

* Bats are exceptionally vulnerable to extinction, in large part because they are the slowest reproducing mammals on earth for their size, most producing only one offspring a year.

Spiders

* All spiders have a pair of jaw-like structures, each of which ends in a hollow fang through which venom can be ejected.

* Most spiders have eight eyes but, surprisingly, most have poor vision. They rely instead on touch and vibration, which they sense through the hairs on their legs.

* Female spiders may produce several egg sacs, each containing up to several hundred eggs.

* A spider grows by shedding its skin (molting), usually four to twelve times before maturity.

* The venom of most spider species is not very toxic to humans, usually resulting in no more than a slight swelling, inflammation, or itching sensation. Most spiders' fangs are too small or weak to puncture human skin.

Rats

* Rats grind their teeth when they're happy. This behavior is called bruxing, and it is often compared to purring in cats.

* There are two species of house rats: brown and black. Both originated in Asia but have spread throughout the world, mostly on board ships.

* The brown rat is the larger of the two species, growing up to 10 inches long (excluding the tail) and sometimes weighing more than a pound.

* Females produce as many as 8 litters each year with as many as 20 young per litter. Despite human efforts to exterminate rats, the world's house rat population is probably equal to the world's human population.

Cockroaches

* Cockroaches can live without food for a month, but will only survive a week without water.

* Cockroaches can withstand temperatures as cold as 30°F, but will die if the temperature goes much below that. In extremely cold places, they survive by moving in with humans.

* Young cockroaches can crawl through a crack as thin as a dime. Adult males can squeeze into a space the thickness of a quarter. Pregnant females need the most room: a space as tall as two stacked nickels.

* Cockroaches can run up to three miles an hour and hold their breath for up to 40 minutes.

* Cockroaches can climb walls because they are equipped with a set of little claws on their feet.

* Cockroaches use their feelers, or antennae, as noses. Their sense of smell is so great, they recognize family and friends by their distinctive odors.

Boots's Decoder Game

Boots seems to have her own language. Do you want to have one, too? To create a language that's fun to play with your friends (and is sure to get more than a few laughs), try a game called One Up, One Down. You only need a dictionary and a dash of good humor.

Playing the Game For any given sentence, lookup the nouns in the dictionary and then replace them with the word that's either "one up" or "one down" from the original entry (you choose which).

Tip: If the word is the same one up or down, skip until you find one that's different.

For example --

The sentence: The little dog laughed to see such a sight and the dish ran away with the spoon. The nouns: dog, sight, dish, spoon.

Dog: The entry above is doff. The one below is dogged.

Sight: sigh, sigil

Dish: disgusting, dishabille

Spoon: spool, spoonerism

The new sentence: The little doff laughed to see such a sigil and the dishabille ran away with the spool.

Or: The little dogged laughed to see such a sigh and the disgusting ran away with the spoonerism.

You'll see that if you play around with the words, you can come up with several combinations!

Write a letter to a friend using One Up, One Down and including the rules. Working backwards, can they figure out what you were trying to say? The results can be funny.

Variations: replace the verbs or the adjectives. See if your friends can guess what it is you've replaced.

A Sneak Peek at Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane: Book Two in The Underland Chronicles

The action and adventure continue! In the months since Gregor first encountered the strange Underland beneath New York City, he's sworn he won't ever go back. But when another prophecy -- this time about the Bane, an ominous white rat -- calls for Gregor's help, the Underlanders know the only way they can get his attention is through his little sister, Boots. Now Gregor's quest reunites him with his bat Ares, the rebellious princess Luxa, and other allies -- and sends them through the dangerous and deadly waterway in search of the Bane. Then Gregor must face the possibility of his greatest loss yet and make life-and-death choices that will determine the future of the Underland.

"When Gregor opened his eyes he had the distinct impression that someone was watching him. He glanced around his tiny bedroom, trying to keep as still as possible. The ceiling was empty. Nothing on his dresser. Then he saw it sitting on the windowsill, motionless except for the delicate twitching of its antennas. A cockroach.

"You're just looking for trouble," he said softly to the cockroach. 'You want my mom to see you? "

The cockroach rubbed its feelers together but made no attempt to run away. Gregor sighed. He reached for an old mayonnaise jar that held his pencils, emptied it on the bed, and in one swift move trapped the cockroach beneath it.

He didn't even have to get up to do it. His bedroom wasn't actually a bedroom. Probably it was supposed to be some kind of storage space. Gregor's single bed was wedged into it so, at night, he came in the doorway and crawled straight up to his pillow. On the wall facing the foot of the bed, there was a little alcove with just enough room for a narrow dresser, although you could only open the drawers about eight inches. He had to do his homework sitting cross-legged on his bed with a board on his knees. And there was no door. But Gregor wasn't complaining. He had a window that looked out on the street, the ceilings were nice and high, and he had more privacy than anybody else in the apartment. No one came in his room much ... if you didn't count the roaches.

What was it with the roaches lately, anyway? They'd always had some in the apartment, but now it seemed like every time he turned around he'd spot one. Not running. Not trying to hide. Just sitting there ... watching him. It was weird. And it was a lot of work trying to keep them alive ...

Gregor spent the next few hours helping Mrs. Cormaci make big glass casserole dishes of scalloped potatoes, polishing her odd collection of antique clocks, and getting her Christmas decorations out of the storage space. When she asked Gregor what he was hoping to get for Christmas, he just shrugged.

When he left for the day, along with the money and a vat of scalloped potatoes, Mrs. Cormaci gave him something wonderful. It was a pair of her son's old work boots. They were a little worn and a little too big, but they were sturdy and waterproof and laced up above his ankles. The sneakers Gregor was wearing, which were his only pair of shoes, were starting to split at the toe and sometimes, after walking through the slushy streets, his feet would be wet all day at school.

"Are you sure he doesn't want these?" said Gregor.

"My son? Sure he wants them. He wants them to sit in my closet taking up space so he can come back once a year and say, 'Hey, there's my old boots,' and stuff them back in the closet. If I trip over those boots getting to my iron one more time, I'll disown him. Get them out of here before I throw them out the window!" Mrs. Cormaci said with a wave of contempt at the boots. "I'll see you next Saturday."

When he got home, it was clear his dad wasn't feeling well.

"You kids go on. Go sledding. I'll be fine here with Grandma," he said, but his teeth were chattering from chills.

Boots was dancing around with the plastic saucer on her head. "Go sedding? We go sedding, Ge-go?"

"I'll stay," Lizzie whispered to Gregor. "But could you get some of that fever medicine before you go? We ran out yesterday."

Gregor considered staying as well, but Boots hardly ever got out, and Lizzie was too young to take her sledding alone.

He ran down to the drugstore and bought a bottle of pills that brought down your fever. On the way home he stopped at a table where a man sold used books on the street. A few days ago, walking by, he had noticed a paperback puzzle book. It was kind of beat up, but when Gregor flipped through it he saw that only one or two of the puzzles had been done. The man gave it to him for a buck. Lastly, he picked up a couple of navel oranges, the expensive kind with the really thick skin. Lizzie loved those.

Lizzie's face lit up when he gave her the book. "Oh! Oh, I'll get a pencil!" she said, and ran off. She was nuts about puzzles. Math puzzles, word puzzles, any kind. And even though she was seven, she could do a lot of the ones meant for adults. When she was a tiny kid you'd take her out and see a stop sign and she'd go, "Stop, pots, spot, tops ..." She'd instantly rearrange all the letters into all the words she could think of. Like she couldn't help it.

When Gregor had told her about the Underland, she gave a little gasp when he'd mentioned the horrible rat king, Gorger. "Gorger! That's the same name as your name, Gregor!" She didn't mean the same name, she meant you could mix around the letters in Gorger and spell Gregor. Who else would notice that?

So he felt okay when he left her. Their grandma was asleep, his dad had his medicine, and Lizzie was curled up in a chair next to him sucking on an orange slice and happily cracking a cryptogram.

Boots's excitement was so contagious that Gregor felt happy, too. He'd put on an extra pair of socks and stuffed the toes of his new boots with toilet paper so his feet were warm and snug and dry. His family had enough scalloped potatoes at home for a small army. Alight snow was gently spinning down around them, and they were going sledding. For the moment, things were okay.

They rode the subway to Central Park, where there was a great sledding hill. Lots of people were there, some with fancy sleds, some with beat-up old saucers. One guy was just sliding down on a big trash bag. Boots squealed in delight every time they went down the hill and as soon as they slid to a stop, she shouted, "More, Ge-go. More!" They sledded until the light began to fade. Near an exit to the street, Gregor stopped for a while to let Boots play. He leaned against a tree while she fascinated herself by making footprints in the snow.

The park felt like Christmas with all the sledding and the pine trees and the funny, lumpy snowmen that kids had built. Big, shimmery stars hung from the lampposts. People walked by with shopping bags that sported reindeer and poinsettias. Gregor should have felt cheerful, but instead, Christmas made him feel anxious.

His family didn't have any money. It didn't matter so much for him. He was eleven. But Boots and Lizzie were little, and it should be fun, it should be magical, with a Christmas tree and presents and stockings on the coat hooks (which is where they hung theirs because they didn't have a chimney) and nice things to eat.

Gregor had been trying to save some money out of what Mrs. Cormaci gave him, but it always seemed to go for something else, like fever medicine or milk or diapers. Boots could really go through a lot of diapers. She probably needed one now, but he hadn't brought any, so they had to get going.

"Boots!" Gregor called. "Time to go!" He looked around the park and saw that the lamps that lined the paths had come on. Daylight was almost gone. "Boots! Let's go!" he said. He stepped out from the tree, turned in a circle, and felt a jolt of alarm.

In the brief time he'd been thinking, Boots had vanished.