The Scorch Trials picks up where The Maze Runner left off. The Gladers have escaped the Maze, but now they face an even more treacherous challenge on the open roads of a devastated planet.
And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them.
Can Thomas survive in such a violent world?

Questions for James Dashner

Q: Where was the worst place you’ve ever been lost or trapped? Did you use Thomas-like ingenuity to figure out the problem?
A: Interesting you should ask that, because The Maze Runner saved my life last Halloween! Ok, not really, but close. My son and I went to a corn maze, and we got lost and stuck. It made me realize how mean I am to my characters! I hadn’t been thinking when we entered and I have to be honest, I wasn’t paying attention. I didn’t think I’d get lost in a Halloween corn maze! But as soon as we realized that we had no idea how to get out I used the trick Thomas learned in the first book--turning right no matter what--and sure enough, we got out. I have a lot more respect for corn mazes now!

Q: The Maze Runner has been compared to other popular YA series like The Hunger Games and The Uglies. What do you think of those series? (And what do you think the draw is to post-apocalyptic societies for YA readers?)
A: First, let me start by saying that I love both of those series a lot! I think everyone is attracted to the idea of a post-apocalyptic society because it’s fascinating to imagine what the future could hold, and scary to know that maybe, just maybe, it could really happen. Although we hope not. Or do we?

Seriously, though, there’s so much that teens today have to deal with. Life isn’t as simple as it used to be with media everywhere at all times. And our country has been at war for a huge part of most teenagers’ lives. It’s a reality that kids face these days, and to see that life could go on could be almost reassuring.

Q: How did you come up with the shuckin’ Gladers’ slang? And have you ever accidentally used it in real life?
A: The slang had several purposes, but mainly it was to give the Gladers' language a different flavor. To show how a community can evolve. Not only is it in the future, but they've been isolated as well.

And on a more realistic note, an unsupervised group of boys would definitely be using language that could begin to take over the story itself. I wanted it to be realistic, but not a glossary of bad language. It would have become limiting for the book in terms of readership and, well, I’m a parent!

Q: What made you decide on a solar flare as a catastrophe (vs. all the other apocalyptic scenarios)?
A: I have to admit, I’m somewhat of an apocalypse buff. When I first started working on The Maze Runner I read an article somewhere about solar flares and I was fascinated. Not only were they a unique idea back then, but it seems completely plausible. Solar flares are natural occurrences, and the cycle for larger flares is again approaching. We’ll be seeing larger flares that really do affect things like communication and space travel. I just took things a little farther.

I also didn't want it to be a nuclear holocaust because I think that's overdone. And it doesn’t seem like we’ll need something that violent anymore to cause our own end. We’ve done a great job of making Mother Nature pretty angry!

Q: One thing that always bugged me: Why couldn’t the Gladers climb up and run around on top of the walls? (At least during the day.)
A: There's a part where Thomas asks Minho about that actually. Minho answers that they've tried it and can't get up that far. The maze has a lot of illusion and technology to make it seem bigger than it is. And I wanted the reader to imagine a maze with walls so high that you could never get to the top.

Q: I’ve heard that The Maze Runner might be made into a movie. If it is, what would you like fans of the book to see up there on the screen? Sometimes literary elements can be lost in translation to film--what’s important for you to remain unchanged?
A: I would love to see a movie made! My biggest hope would be that they cast it well, write it well, and really transfer the mystery of it to the big screen, not just the action. Not much to ask, right?

Q: There are a lot of scenes in the first two books with very graphic violence and death both against and initiated by teenagers--why did you choose to make the brutality so prevalent in a YA series?
A: There is a lot of violence, yes. Next question?

Really, though--I wanted to show what a brutal world it has become, and what a desperate situation the Gladers’ are in, so the reader can understand the stakes. If everything is safe, why would the boys want to leave? I also wanted to blur the lines of what is acceptable to survive in such an environment. We’ve been interested in the idea of survival for as long as we’ve been telling stories. And in modern culture, we’ve gone from Swiss Family Robinson, to Lord of the Flies, to Lost...if there’s no law anymore, who’s to say what’s right and wrong?

Q: You ended The Scorch Trials with a cliffhanger to rival the ending of The Empire Strikes Back. What sorts of things can your readers look forward to in The Death Cure?
A: I just turned in the third book, and I'm very proud of it and excited about it. Every last question is resolved, you see much more of the real world, and the ending is not what people may expect but I'm confident they'll be satisfied with the resolution. And lots of twists and action of course!

"Dutton goes behind the scenes with twelve extraordinary kids. We are talking fourteen-year-olds who build nuclear reactors in their basements and train cockroaches to sniff for drugs. Two-year-olds who ask Santa for an extension cord. Their stories converge at the biggest science competition in the world, a sort of American Idol for geeks like me. An inspiring tale, deftly told."
--Mary Roach, author of Stiff and Packing for Mars

"A genuine delight! It's exhilarating to see the spirit of history's great scientists in these students. Judy Dutton's tale is filled with drama and the adventure of scientific discovery. Glee with test tubes!"
--Henry R. Schlesinger, author of The Battery: How Portable Power Sparked a Technological Revolution

"Despite the attention placed on athletics, our future will not be made by the boys and girls who play on America's lavish playing fields. Instead, everything we cherish depends on the sturdy young people who compete in the dusty halls of our science fairs. Within the book's pages are tales of true heroism, that of courageous students who are willing to struggle and persevere and finally succeed."
--Homer Hickam, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller October Sky

"I'm a big fan of international science fairs and have longed for a book that sings their praises. This book delivers in spades. These kids prove that the creativity and drive that make this country great are alive and well. If you're tired of hearing how American kids have fallen behind in terms of science education and otherwise, read this book for a renewed sense of hope."
--Leon Lederman, Nobel Laureate and author of The God Particle: If the Universe is the Answer, What Is the Question?

"We must teach our kids that it's not just the winner of the Superbowl that needs to be celebrated but the winner of the science fair."
--President Obama, State of the Union Address

This is the engaging true story of kids competing in the high-stakes, high-drama world of international science fairs. Every year the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair brings together 1,500 high schoolers from more than 50 countries to compete for over $4 million dollars in prizes and scholarships. These amazing kids are doing everything from creating bionic prosthetics to conducting groundbreaking stem cell research, from training drug-sniffing cockroaches to building a nuclear reactor. In Science Fair Season, Judy Dutton follows twelve teens looking for science fair greatness and tells the gripping stories of their road to the big competition. Some will win, some will lose, but all of their lives are changed forever.

The Intel International Science & Engineering Fair is the most prominent science fair in the country, and it takes a special blend of drive, heart, and smarts to win there. Dutton goes inside the inner sanctum of science fair competitions and reveals the awe-inspiring projects and the competitors there. Each of the kids--ranging from a young Erin Brokovich who made the FBI watch list for taking on a big corporation, to a quietly driven boy who lives in a run-down trailer on a Navajo reservation, to a wealthy Connecticut girl who dreams of being an actress and finds her calling studying bees, to a troubled teenager in a juvenile detention facility, to the next Bill Gates--take readers on an unforgettable journey.

Along the way, Science Fair Season gives readers a glimpse of America's brightest young minds and shows how our country is still a place for inventors and dreamers--the "geeks" our future depends upon.

A fun collection of stories in the fantasy genre showcasing the artistic talent of Darren Glenn, whose humorous, detailed style pays homage to Sergio Aragonés.

Shakespeare would be rolling in his grave after reading “The Curse of Gandorf”; a lighthearted tragedy that is part “Romeo and Juliet” and part “Groo the Wanderer”. Gandorf the dragon, meets Rowena, the human girl of his dreams, and must try to win her love. What follows is of course, total disaster, but with a surprise ending.

Scorch also features a four page back-up story in which a savage nomad seeking vengeance for the murder of his family takes on an entire army. With visuals including the literal opening of a can of “whoop ass,” this is a parody that will leave you craving more.

A fun collection of stories in the fantasy genre showcasing the artistic talent of Darren Glenn, whose humorous, detailed style pays homage to Sergio Aragonés.

Shakespeare would be rolling in his grave after reading “The Curse of Gandorf”; a lighthearted tragedy that is part “Romeo and Juliet” and part “Groo the Wanderer”. Gandorf the dragon, meets Rowena, the human girl of his dreams, and must try to win her love. What follows is of course, total disaster, but with a surprise ending.

Scorch also features a four page back-up story in which a savage nomad seeking vengeance for the murder of his family takes on an entire army. With visuals including the literal opening of a can of “whoop ass,” this is a parody that will leave you craving more.

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. After surviving horrific conditions in the Maze, Thomas is entrapped, along with nineteen other boys, in an experiment designed to observe their responses and gather data believed to be essential for the survival of the human race.

PC007001 Features: -Puppet.-Great long arm, knitted with squeakers in their tongues.-Accompanied by baby sockette finger.