Gregor the Overlander

I was casting about for a new series of books that I thought Luke (age 9) might enjoy and among several that I had him eyeball in a bookstore, this was one that he allowed might look interesting. So I started reading this aloud to him early this month. It was “okay” to begin with but he immediately enjoyed the humorous bits with young Gregor's sister, Boots. Gregor is a young boy who lives in New York City. He and his 2-year-old sister Boots fall down a shaft that they find via their laundry room and end up in the Underland. The Underland is home to humans, giant talking cockroaches, bats, spiders, and evil rats. As we got further into the story, Luke became more and more engaged with the story. Somewhere past the halfway point, when I was done with my reading aloud for the night, Luke wanted to read some on his own until lights out. I'd come back 30 or 40 minutes later to find he'd read 40 or 50 pages and I needed to catch up before the next night's reading. So the book progressed faster and faster. Luke loved it. I got the second of the this five-book series out of the library to keep him occupied. Luke wanted to start reading it immediately. He read 56 pages the first night.