The Maze Runner

The Maze Runner 

Title: The Maze Runner  

Author: James Dashner   

ISBN: 9780385907026 

Publisher: Delacorte Press  

Copyright Date: 2009  

Genre: Science Fiction, Thriller  

Awards or Honors: The Book is a New York Time Best Seller  

Reading Level: Older teen  

Plot Summary: Thomas wakes up in a box with supplies as it rises to the top of a place that is called the Glade. The Glade is an area with moving stone walls, lots of kids his age, wild animals. There is no way out, it seems, and the only way to leave the Glade is through a narrow opening guarded by deadly animals at night. When a girl, Teresa, comes out of the box for the first time, the boys learn this will be the last supplies and people. When Thomas and a  few kids get locked out of the Glade, they explore the outside and discover people might be watching them. They convince a group to go out with them, and they face obstacles, monsters, and dangers as they try to get out and survive. Thomas injects himself with a serum to regain memories and remembers they all used to be in a lab. The kids were put in the Glade as experiments to see if researchers could find a cure for a deadly pandemic disease affecting the globe.    

Author Background: James Dashner is the author of The Maze Runner series, a New York Times Bestseller that follows a teen named Thomas. The book series has been made into a successful movie series that has turned The Maze Runner into a franchise. Other books in The Maze Runner series include The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure, The Kill Order, and The Fever Code. He has also written other popular book series like the Mortality Doctrine series. James was born and raised in Georgia.   

Critical Evaluation: The book is a thrilling action mystery that leaves readers excited after each chapter. Because parts of the plot are unexplained leading up to appearing in the Glade, there is constant plot tension about why the teens are there. It helps keep the reader engaged and makes people want to read the next book in the series. The book style is quick and engaging, with clear ends to chapters that teens will appreciate. Teens will also like the book because it treats the characters as adults and gives them responsibility and agency. The book also shows adults are capable of bad decisions, and sometimes teens can be right and should be in charge of their own lives.   

Creative Use Library Program: Maze Engineering Program: This online program would see kids learn how to create a maze program with a computer program similar to The Maze Runner Glade. This program would have someone like a computer programmer teach kids how to build a maze and provide the structure to learn. The kid that creates the most creative or most challenging maze would win a prize. The goal would be for other kids to figure out a way out of the computer maze and test the theory with someone playing the game as a human trying to escape. Kids could also learn about computer programming and how hard it is to create mazes and puzzles for video games.   

Book Talk: The Maze Runner follows a boy named Thomas who comes out of “the box” and is a thrown into the Glade, an area with moving walls and seemingly no way out. All the other boys already in the Glade are simply trying to survive together. Thomas begins to learn the ways of the boys and the Glade, including to avoid being trapped outside the stone walls of the Glade at sunset. When Thomas and his friends are shut outside of the Glade’s main area, they must survive against Grievers and other terrors. Will they survive their ordeal, and can they find out why they are in the Glade in the first place?   

Potential Challenge Issues: There are no challenges currently to the book. Some scenes of violence are not appropriate for younger kids.   

Reason for Inclusion: I included the book for its popularity. The author is a well-known author with lots of teen books. The book is also the first in the book series that continues Thomas’s adventures. Hollywood has also made The Maze Runner into a successful movie series. I know teens would like the action and adventure and the dystopian plot.   

James Dashner. (2020). James Dasher Website. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from https://jamesdashner.com/

The Maze Runner. (2020). Daly City Public Library. https://dalycity.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1980299076