Collins, Suzanne

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Collins, Suzanne

PERSONAL:

Born in NJ; father in the Air Force; married; husband's name Cap.

ADDRESSES:

Home and office—CT.

CAREER:

Novelist and television scriptwriter. Television writer, beginning 1991. Worked previously as a clinical director of services for adults with learning disabilities, Cambridge Health Authority.

MEMBER:

Authors Guild.

AWARDS, HONORS:

New York Public Library 100 Books for Reading and Sharing selection, 2003, for Gregor the Overlander.

WRITINGS:

"UNDERLAND CHRONICLES"; MIDDLE-GRADE NOVELS

Gregor the Overlander, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2003.

Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2004.

Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2005.

Gregor and the Marks of Secret, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2006.

Gregor and the Code of Claw, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2007.

OTHER

When Charlie McButton Lost Power (picture book), illustrated by Mike Lester, Putnam (New York, NY), 2005.

Also author of numerous television scripts, including for programs Clarissa Explains It All, The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo, Little Bear, Oswald, Santa, Baby!, Clifford's Puppy Days, and Generation O!

ADAPTATIONS:

Dan Yaccarino's picture book, Oswald's Camping Trip, was based on Collins's script for the Oswald television program. The "Underland Chronicles" were adapted as audiobooks.

SIDELIGHTS:

Suzanne Collins, who has worked as a writer on such television programs as Clarissa Explains It All, Little Bear, and Oswald, did not plan to write a novel for children. After a conversation with children's book author and illustrator Joe Proimos, however, she was convinced to give it a try. The resulting novel, Gregor the Overlander, became the first installment in Collins's "Underland Chronicles," a series of Alice in Wonderland-esque tales that find Gregor traversing an urban environment. Collins, who lived in New York City for sixteen years, wanted to gear her fantasy toward cosmopolitan young readers who are more familiar with city streets that sunlit meadows. As a contributor to the Scholastic Web site noted of Collins's inspiration, "in New York City, you're much more likely to fall down a manhole than a rabbit hole and, if you do, you're not going to find a tea party."

Gregor's adventures begin in Gregor the Overlander when he follows his two-year-old sister, Boots, through an air duct and into the world below. What he finds in the Underland is not only a hidden human society, but also giant-sized rats, cockroaches, and spiders that are able to communicate in the humans' language. When Gregor arrives, the Underland is on the brink of war—a war that threatens to spread into the Overland, first to Manhattan and then throughout the world. Gregor's first thought is to get home—until he overhears that his father, who has gone missing, may now be in the Underland and need his son's help. Gregor makes new friends in the giant rat Ripred, Temp the cockroach, and Luxa, a mysterious human girl, and together they search for the missing man and put Gregor on track to his destiny.

As Collins told Jen Rees in an interview posted on Collins's home page, she selected the Underland setting because "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." She "creates a fascinating, vivid, highly original world and a superb story to go along with it," wrote Ed Sullivan in a Booklist review of Gregor the Overlander, while a Kirkus Reviews contributor described Collins's story line as a "luminous, supremely absorbing quest." Steven Engelfried, writing in School Library Journal, wrote that the story's "plot threads unwind smoothly, and the pace of the book is just right."

As the "Underland Chronicles" series continues, Gregor fulfils a prophecy and becomes a leader in the Underland. Together with his companions Ripred, Temp, and Luxa, in Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane, Gregor continues his adventures, undertaking to rescue a kidnap victim named Boots. In her sequel, Collins once again showcases her "careful attention to detail, pacing, and character development," in the opinion of Horn Book reviewer Kitty Flynn, and Sullivan dubbed the novel's protagonist "courageous, selfless, and ultimately triumphant." In the third book in the series, Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods, Gregor's enemy is not an army, but a plague, one that his mother contracts. "Collins maintains the momentum, charm, and vivid settings of the original title," wrote Tasha Saecker her School Library Journal review of this title. Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods "delivers the breakneck adventure and strong characters readers have come to expect," wrote a contributor to Kirkus Reviews, and Flynn concluded that, with this third series installment, "character development, plotting, pacing, and description all shine."

Gregor returns in Gregor and the Marks of Secret, which finds some of the humans' allies in trouble. Together with Gregor, Luxa and Temp attempt to save the day, and "the breathless pace, intense drama, and extraordinary challenges" of their quest "will leave fans clamoring" for more, according to School Library Journal reviewer Mara Alpert. In Horn Book, Flynn commented that "vivid description, expert pacing, and subtle character development all enhance" Collins's fourth "gripping fantasy adventure."

Along with her "Underland Chronicles," Collins has produced a picture-book text featuring illustrations by Mike Lester. In the rhyming text of When Charlie McButton Lost Power, Charlie spends most of his time playing video games, but must find a new way to entertain himself when his home's power goes out. A contributor to Children's Bookwatch called Collins's tale "refreshingly original and moving."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 15, 2003, Ed Sullivan, review of Gregor the Overlander, p. 608; September 1, 2004, Ed Sullivan, review of Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane, p. 120; July, 2005, Ed Sullivan, review of Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods, p. 1924.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, January, 2004, Janice Del Negro, review of Gregor the Overlander, p. 185; October, 2004, Timnah Card, review of Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane, p. 65; September, 2005, Timnah Card, review of Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods, p. 11.

Children's Bookwatch, June, 2005, review of When Charlie McButton Lost Power.

Horn Book, September-October, 2003, Kitty Flynn, review of Gregor the Overlander, p. 609; September-October, 2004, Kitty Flynn, review of Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane, p. 578; July-August, 2005, Kitty Flynn, review of Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods, p. 467; July-August, 2006, Kitty Flynn, review of Gregor and the Marks of Secret, p. 437.

Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2003, review of Gregor the Overlander, p. 1014; December 1, 2003, review of Gregor the Overlander, p. 1402; August 1, 2004, review of Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane, p. 739; May 1, 2005, review of When Charlie McButton Lost Power, p. 536; June 15, 2005, review of Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods, p. 680; May 15, 2006, review of Gregor and the Marks of Secret, p. 515.

Publishers Weekly, September 8, 2003, review of Gregor the Overlander, p. 77.

School Library Journal, November, 2003, Steven Engelfried, review of Gregor the Overlander, p. 134; October, 2004, Beth Meister, review of Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane, p. 160; July, 2005, Tasha Saecker, review of Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods, p. 100; July, 2005, Barbara Auerbach, review of When Charlie McButton Lost Power, p. 71; September, 2006, Mara Alpert, review of Gregor and the Marks of Secret, p. 202.

Voice of Youth Advocates, April, 2004, review of Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane, p. 21; December, 2004, review of Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane, p. 402.