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107 pages 3 hours read

Gregor the Overlander

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2003

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Introduction

Gregor the Overlander

  • Genre: Fiction; middle-grade fantasy
  • Originally Published: 2003
  • Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 690L; grades 4-7
  • Structure/Length: 27 chapters; approx. 336 pages; approx. 6 hours, 33 minutes on audio
  • Protagonist and Central Conflict: Eleven-year-old Gregor and his two-year-old sister Boots tumble through a grate in their apartment building’s laundry room and find themselves in the Underland, a dark place where translucent-skinned humans and giant, sentient bats, spiders, and roaches are on the brink of war with King Gorger, king of the giant, sentient rats. Gregor discovers that the Underland is tied to his father’s mysterious disappearance and that the only way to find him is to embrace the prophecy and become the warrior who will unite the Underlanders to defeat the rats.
  • Potential Sensitivity Issues: Violence

Suzanne Collins, Author

  • Bio: Born 1962; youngest of four children; daughter of a military officer; double majored in theater and telecommunications at Indiana University Bloomington; prolific career writing for children’s television (Clarissa Explains It All, The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo, Little Bear, Oswald); author of the award-winning Hunger Games trilogy; writing often examines the effects of war and violence on children and teens; distinguished writer who has been on several “best of” lists, including School Library Journal Best Books of 2008 and NY Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing; recipient of the 2016 Authors Guild Award for Distinguished Service to the Literary Community; named one of Time magazine’s most influential people of 2010 
  • Other Works: Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane (2004); Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods (2005); Gregor and the Marks of Secret (2006); Gregor and the Code of Claw (2007); The Hunger Games (2008); Catching Fire (2009); Mockingjay (2010); The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2020)
  • Awards: Pennsylvania Young Readers’ Choice Award (2005); Kirkus Reviews Editors’ Choice book; NAIBA Children’s Novel Award (2004)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

  • Strength in Differences
  • Peace
  • Time as Life

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

  • Develop an understanding of the social and literary contexts regarding the hero archetype and war that drive the story’s core concerns.
  • Discuss paired texts and other brief resources to make connections via the text’s themes of Strength in Differences, Peace, and Time as Life.
  • Collaborate with classmates to research and create their own complex societies inspired by those in the novel; resolve conflicts between their societies based on provided prompts; and create a written or visual reflection analyzing their choices that connects to the novel’s themes on Peace and Strength in Differences based on text details.
  • Analyze and evaluate characters, themes, literary devices, and author’s techniques in the novel to draw conclusions in structured essay responses regarding character foils, the hero archetype, and other topics.
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