The Maze Runner

Dashner, James. (2009). The Maze Runner. New York: Delacorte.

Image credit: Wikipedia

Annotation:

An amnesiac teenager awakes in a box in the middle of a colony of boys.

Booktalk:

What is a Maze Runner?

maze runner. n. a fast shank who risks his shuck life everyday running through the ever-changing maze, escaping the grievers, in the hopes of finding an exit for all the gladers.

Thomas wakes up confused and without a memory of who he is or what happened to him. He knows that he is currently surrounded by a large crowd of boys of all ages and that they don't looked surprised to see him. Thomas soon learns he is in a place called the Glade, a large area surrounded on all sides by massive walls. Beyond the walls is a massive labyrinth maze that changes every night. Thomas is immediately determined to find a way out, and he soon discovers that the only way he will succeed is to become a Maze Runner.

Awards:

• Kentucky Bluegrass Award grades 9-12, 2011
• VOYA Best Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, 2009 
• YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers 2011

Listen to a clip from the audio version courtesy of Random House Audio ©2011 .

City of Ember

Duprau, J. (2003). The City of Ember. New York: Yearling.

Image credit: Wikipedia

Annotation:

Residents of the City of Ember begin to panic when the electricity and generator begin to fail. They must figure out something quickly before the lights go out for good and the Emberites are left in dark, dark world.

Booktalk:

What is life like for a person in the City of Ember? For starters its pitch-black, all the time, except for the old lights strung across the city. You choose your job out of a bag filled with little papers with different jobs written on them. You stand in line for hours at the warehouse for supplies just to be told that the city has recently run out of the requested item. You are constantly worried that the lights will go out for good as rumors of the generator failing permeate the city.

Lina and Doon, citizens of Ember, are intelligent, curious, and hopeful. Brought together by their shared concern about the eminent blackout, Lina and Doon work together to find out more about the inner-workings of the city. Doon's father gives them cryptic adivce to live by:

"The main thing is to pay attention. Pay close attention to everything, notice what no one else notices. Then you’ll know what no one else knows, and that’s always useful.”

Join them in their search for truth and a brighter future in a world consumed by darkness. Will Lina and Doon succeed in saving the people of The City of Ember?
 

Awards:

• ALA Notable Book
• Black-Eyed Susan Award, 2005-2006
• Borders Original Voices
• California Book Awards, Commonwealth Club of California
• Chapman Award for Shared Reading (Esmé Raji Codell)
• Child Magazine’s Best Children's Books, 2003
• Children's Literature Association of Utah Book Award
• Kirkus Editor's Choice, 2003
• Land of Enchantment Book Award, New Mexico
• Mark Twain Award, 2006
• Nevada Young Reader’s Award
• New York Public Library's 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
• New York Times Bestseller List (Children's Paperback Fiction)
• Nutmeg Children’s Book Award, Connecticut
• Publisher's Weekly Flying Start
• William Allen White Children’s Book Award, 2006
• Young Hoosier Book Award, Indiana