Half-Minute Horrors

This is a fantastic little collection of horror stories by lots of big name authors! There are over 70 clever and sometimes gruesome, but always smile-inducing, vignettes of horror. Most are the usual one or two page stories, but others are poems, comics, or just a picture. This is a great, quick read. And with so many stories, it's worth re-reading over and over. Creepy and fun!

The Maze Runner - by James Dashner

If you liked "The Hunger Games," you'll like this book, as well. It has that same sort of post-apocalyptic feel to it. It's a world created by adults to manipulate the kids into doing what they want. The world itself and the motivations behind it are, of course, different here in "The Maze Runner." But that is a mystery until the end.

The book starts out with Thomas coming up into the Glade through the Box, and he can't remember anything other than his name. A group of boys gruffly welcome him to this strange, terrifying world. Outside of the Glade is a maze that after two years hasn't been solved yet, as it changes every day. And wandering through that maze, especially at night before the gates of the Glade close, are Grievers, mechanical, deathly slugs.

Then, a day after Thomas arrives in the Glade, a girl is sent up through the Box bringing the message that everything is going to change. And everything does. Her arrival sets off a chain of events signaling the end of life in the Glade as everyone knew it. Will Thomas be able to figure out why he and the girl seem so important? And will the Gladers be able to figure out the Maze before starvation and the Grievers take them all?

With gruff but likable characters, "The Maze Runner" is intriguing and full of action, all the way through to the shocking ending. A great read that you won't be able to put down. I can't wait for the sequel! "The Scorch Trials" reportedly comes out in October 2010.