allow me to be relevant for a moment: oh my god, this book is outstanding!! it is all good things; battle royale, blood of heroes (one of the best movies ever made - dont argue with me), and all the best elements of this survivalist gary paulsen jag i am on. it kept me up way past my bedtime last night, because i could not stop reading, even though my eyes did not want to be awake. and now we veer, as ever, into the personal. this book is my comeuppance. i suppose it is factually my second comeuppance. i used to be a sneerer at grownups reading harry potter and twilight and all the stuff that is supposed to be for the kiddies, and was disgusted by the infantilizing of our adults tastes. and then i decided to take a teen lit class this summer for my mls degree, so i could have a class with greg before he graduated. i figured it would be easy reading and not too challenging and a nice way to spend my summer; getting A pluses and hanging out with my friend. but of course, after i had read a few books from the syllabus, we realized that we had signed up for the wrong class, and all the teen books i had been reading (and for the most part enjoying) were not for our class. and the books i was actually supposed to be reading were for much much younger readers. and then i was disappointed that i wouldnt be reading all those teen books after all. first comeuppance: regretting mocking teen fiction because now i have to read actual books for babies, which is so much more infantilizing. and now, my second comeuppance, i read this book and its not on either of the reading lists, and i dont even know if i can use it for this 10-book annotated bibliography because it might be for too old of a reading age, but i dont even care. i am now an adult who reads teen fiction. i have to reevaluate everything i thought i stood for. i still wont read harry potter, because i am stubborn, but i might have to sneer a little less at others. and that,i assure you, that is going to hurt.