I just finished reading The Maze Runner by James Dashner. Thomas wakes up in the lift with no memory of his past life before being in the strange dark elevator. When he gets helped out of the lift by a crowd of boys he discovers a large area enclosed by stone walls, called the Glade. For two years every 30 days a new boy comes out of the lift. Not one of them can remember anything about their past, but Thomas feels he is different. Shortly after he arrives, the first girl to arrive at the Glade comes out of the lift; her name is Teresa. Surrounding the glade is a large mysterious maze, but before they try to find the secrets of the maze, they must unlock the secrets within themselves. Throughout the book James Dashner tells you to never give up and be brave even if there seems like no solution to your problem.

Dashner expresses this towards the end of the book. The first time is when Teresa triggers the "Ending." The sky turns grey so there is no sunlight to water the crops and Grievers (who are monsters from the maze) come out every night and kill one boy from the Glade. This makes all the boys feel hopeless because the maze seems unsolvable so they would all die from hunger or Grievers. I think Thomas is really brave because he ran and got stung by a Griever on purpose just to get his memories back so he could free the Gladers from the maze. SPOILER... After Thomas and the Gladers get out of the maze they realize it was a test to see if they would give up, because solving it seemed impossible. Throughout the book no one gave up when it came to solving the maze and most of them made it out.

I think that never giving up and being brave connects to teenagers because sometimes when we are doing our homework or studying for a test we feel inclined to give up when it gets difficult. This book shows that no matter the circumstances there is always a solution to your problem. Instead of giving up immediately and not thinking about the problem, we should stop and try to find an answer. Also we should try to be brave sometimes. Whether it is when we raise our hand in class or try to do a cool skateboarding trick, we should be brave and take a chance. Sometimes we might do well and sometimes we might fail. I think this book connects to teenagers because it shows that you should never give up and be brave.