THE FIVE: Nightmare Book Settings

Sometimes I think it would be so cool if I could live inside a book. Life would be perfect and I wouldn't have to worry about anything. But actually, I can think of a few books that I definitely would not want to live in. Imagine what a nightmare it would be to wake up inside one of these books:

	5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins In Collins' new book for ages 12 and up, it's the America of the future and 16-year-old Katniss has to compete in a fight to the death with 23 other kids on live TV. That's 23 other kids all trying to kill you on live TV! You win this twisted reality game show by being the only person who doesn't die. It's a great book, but I'll stay here in the peaceful present, thanks.
	4. Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer When a meteor hits the moon, at first, it's only annoying because it's all Miranda's teachers talk about. But soon it starts to cause major catastrophes on earth like volcanoes, tsunamis, and drought — changing Miranda's life forever. The scariest thing about this book is that it feels totally real. Like, I want to start stockpiling food and water in case of emergency.
	3. All the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling I know Hogwarts seems really cool and I would love to be friends with Ron, Harry and Hermione, but to be totally honest, I would never want to live there. Too much scary stuff happens. Seriously, imagine having classes every day with those teachers: Snape, Umbridge, Mad-Eye Moody. Or going to the bathroom in your school and finding a giant troll who wants to kill you. And Voldemort? Forget it! That dude scares me silly! I love the books, but I also love my safe Muggle world.
	2. Running Out of Time by Margaret Haddix Peterson OK. Imagine you are living your normal life thinking it is 1840, but then your mother tells you that it is really the 1990s and you live in a historical theme park where people pay to watch how you live without cars and electricity. What?? And not only that, but Mom wants you to sneak out and find a doctor because people are getting sick and dying in this village without modern medicine. If you can't find help all your family and friends will die of this disease. Oh, and if the theme park owners catch you, they will kill you because they don't want anyone to ruin their "experiment."
	1. The Girls by Amy Goldman Koss When I was in 7th grade, one day for no reason at all, my friends just stopped talking to me — forever. It was awful. I eventually made new friends and forgot about those losers, but for a while it was a living nightmare going to school every day. This book describes that exact situation, and believe me I do not want to re-live that experience again!

What about you? Any book setting that YOU think it would be a nightmare to inhabit?

— Sonja, Scholastic.com Editor

Comments

[Comment #1]

I LOVE books that hav a certan twist at the end.My favorate authors with books like that are Margaret Peterson Haddix and Scott Westerfield.I would love to live in one of their stories!!!!!:)

[Comment #2]

I would not want to be in The Giver, by Lois Lowery. Imagine everything being the same, for your whole life, and not knowing any different! The fact that everyone is lying to you...
But, Lowery is an extremly talented author, and I suggest reading her books.

[Comment #3]

I really loved Life as we Knew It, and I agree whole-heartedly that I wouldn't want to live in it!

[Comment #4]

Ok, here are my five:

1. Kira- Kira...this really scared me because the business owner is setting traps on the land, and the main character's sister dies and no one cares,and her mother works in a place where they're not allowed to go to the bathroom. I love the book, but it's very sad.

2. The Outsiders...also a great book, but three people die in horrible ways and the Socs keep trying to be mean to the greasers (two gangs).

3.

Hmmm...I'll come up with the last three later!

[Comment #5]

I feel the same way about scary books. But, actually, some scary books I wouldn't mind living in. For example, Coraline by Neil Gaiman.

This book scared me silly when I was litle. I would hide under 10 quilts at night, pillows, stuffed animals, etc, shaking an breathing irregulary. That's how much it scared me. Now, 5 years later, I still LOVE the book, it still gives me nightmares, but that's one of the books that I'd love to be in. I'm funny that way. I'm still trying to figure out why I love scary books, even if I always scare myself by reading them.

[Comment #6]

Well, Its pretty darn hard to choose my top five, but here we go! (BTW i wrote quite alot to give u the description)
5. The City of Ember (young adult)
In this book its not that scary but imagine living a normal life until you find out your home is falling apart and YOU are the only one who can find a way out of this place. Then you realize you lived underground all your life not knowing about a single thing. That is what happened to Lina and Doon, two 12 year old children, when they find the instructions on how to get out of their falling apart home and yet they barely know what they are doing..
4.Series of Unfortunate Events
Its a series about three VERY unfortunate children who keep on getting chased by their Count Olaf, their first guardian who keeps trying to get their fortune. They cant use the money cause until Violet Baudelaire is 18 years old no one can access it. The main characters all have very helpful hobbies. Violet, the eldest, her hobby is to in vent things, Klause ( u pronounce it as Clows) , the middle child, his hobby is reading and whatever he reads he remembers it ( talk about good memory, i cant even remember wht i had for dinner?, and Sunny Baudelaire, the youngest, her hobby at first was to bite things, but she later got the knack to cook things. All their hobbies are helpful, but dont bring enough luck to them in their adventures all the time..
3. Holes
As alot of u might have read it, Holes is about a boy named Stanley Yelnats ( Note: His first name is his last name backwards) who is curesed with a.. curse. He has been accused of something he didnt do and has am option: Go to jail or go to Camp Green Lake. In Camp Green Lake, There is no Lake or hardly any green. They (all the camp members, including Stanley) have to every day dig a hole that is 5 feet wide and 5 feet deep. It doesnt take long for Stanley to realize that they arent digging holes for good character, but they are digging for something...
2.H.I.V.E (Higher Institute of Villanous Eduacation) Book 2 or 3 The overlord protocol
In this book Otto and Wing are going to school where all of sudden, Wing's dad dies during one of his experiments. When they go to his funeral they realize its a trap and the real Evil Cypher is all behind this he shoots Wing and takes wing with him and goes away. Otto is having a hard time wondering how far will he go to help his friends..
1!!. The 39 Clues!!!!
All of you who have read this book or have been at the Live Chat with the one,The only, PATRICK CARMEN, know about the 39 Clues, but for those who dont here's is a quick flashback on the first book. Amy and Dan are normal orphans until they go to their Grandmother's, Grace, funeral. She tell them about a contest, a competition, on who cna become the most powerful human being in the world. Dan and Amy have no idea what she is talking about and is wondering why she ia talking about. She gives them a choice : 1 million dollars or 1 clue. Like 95% choose the 1 million dollars, but five percent choose the clue. One of the 5% was Dan and Amy, whycause they had a feeling that Grace wanted them to do this, but little did they know how many times they will be very close to their deaths and how many secrets Grace didnt want them to find out...