Another question about a booking from the 80s

[yellowperch]

Reading the Hunger Games brought to mind a sci-fi book I read growing up. Some kids were trapped in some kind of artificial world/game and had to get out. There were lights the kids had to respond to by dancing in order to get food, I think.The hero refused to do this--or somehow circumvented the conditioning. The book ends with the characters outside the game, free in theory. The last scene has the hero watching the other kids dancing at a stop light.

 

Weird, I know. But I remember it all these years later. Does this ring a bell for anyone? (or flash a light?)

[NCMom]

Yes, it's House of Stairs by William Sleator. I loved that book. :001_smile:

hth,

Georgia

[Wheres Toto]

Yes, it's House of Stairs by William Sleator. I loved that book. :001_smile:

hth,

Georgia

 

:iagree: I love that book too. I have a very beat-up copy of it that I've read a ton of times. Very thought-provoking.

[yellowperch]

Holy Moley! That's it. I loved that book. Now to find a copy....

 

Thank you!

 

How did you remember that?

 

Edited to add: just went to Amazon. the book was reprinted in in 91. Turns out we weren't the only ones who loved it. 45-plus reviews, many of them by adults remembering reaing the book as young teens. The New Yorker mentioned it in an article about teen fiction and dystopias the summer.

Edited December 6, 2010 by yellowperch

[NanceXToo]

I loved that book, too! I remembered it had "stairs" in the title but couldn't remember the rest!