The Hunger Games
Collins, Suzanne
ISBN-13 9780439023481
ISBN-10 0439023483
Publisher: Scholastic Incorporated, 2008
Genre: Dystopia/Social Issues
Reading Level: 810 Lexile
Interest Age: 12- adult
Reader's Annotation:
The time has come to go into the arena to fight to the death because the Capital says so. Can she come out alive?
Plot Summary:
Katniss is a 16 year old girl living in a society controlled by the Capital. What is now the 12 districts used to be the United States. Each year one boy and one girl from each of the districts gets called out to be part of the annual Hunger Games. In these games, the only way to win is to survive while everyone else dies. Each child gets entered in the pool of candidates when they are 12 and the whole nation watches the games each year.
In the beginning of the book Katniss' sister gets picked to go into the games and instead of allowing this to happen, Katniss volunteers to go. Her male counterpart is Peeta. They are the poorest district and no one expects them to win. They go into the arena thinking only one of them could win, but what if the best strategy would be to play together?
Critical Evaluation:
This book is the first in a trilogy and has taken the world by storm. There are many people who have read these books in all age groups and it has been turned into a movie. The way Collins writes makes the reader fall in love with Katniss from the beginning. This subject matter has created a lot of conversation and the thought of children killing children is sometimes hard for people to move past. If the reader puts this aside and just decides to read the book for what it is, they will become sucked into the story. Collins has written this book in a way that children dying is not as offensive as it could be. The setting being a land we know but in a completely different way is thought provoking. The reader is forced to see this society in their home town and yet it seems so far removed from the world of today.
About the Author:
Suzanne Collins lives in Connecticut with her family and a couple cats. She is currently working on a children's picture book with another author named James Proimos. Before the Hunger Games series, Collins write a five book series about wars underground in the man holes of big cities. She has only written the two series of books.
Where Collins has spent most of her time is writing for television shows. She has worked for Nickelodeon since 1991 writing scripts for shows. One of the most famous ones is Clarisa Explains it All. She has also done some writing for small children's shows such as Little Bear and Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! She began to write books when her co-worker James stated she should give it a try.
http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com/bio.htm
Curriculum Ties:
N/A
Katniss is a 16 year old girl living in a society controlled by the Capital. What is now the 12 districts used to be the United States. Each year one boy and one girl from each of the districts gets called out to be part of the annual Hunger Games. In these games, the only way to win is to survive while everyone else dies. Each child gets entered in the pool of candidates when they are 12 and the whole nation watches the games each year.
In the beginning of the book Katniss' sister gets picked to go into the games and instead of allowing this to happen, Katniss volunteers to go. Her male counterpart is Peeta. They are the poorest district and no one expects them to win. They go into the arena thinking only one of them could win, but what if the best strategy would be to play together?
Critical Evaluation:
This book is the first in a trilogy and has taken the world by storm. There are many people who have read these books in all age groups and it has been turned into a movie. The way Collins writes makes the reader fall in love with Katniss from the beginning. This subject matter has created a lot of conversation and the thought of children killing children is sometimes hard for people to move past. If the reader puts this aside and just decides to read the book for what it is, they will become sucked into the story. Collins has written this book in a way that children dying is not as offensive as it could be. The setting being a land we know but in a completely different way is thought provoking. The reader is forced to see this society in their home town and yet it seems so far removed from the world of today.
About the Author:
Suzanne Collins lives in Connecticut with her family and a couple cats. She is currently working on a children's picture book with another author named James Proimos. Before the Hunger Games series, Collins write a five book series about wars underground in the man holes of big cities. She has only written the two series of books.
Where Collins has spent most of her time is writing for television shows. She has worked for Nickelodeon since 1991 writing scripts for shows. One of the most famous ones is Clarisa Explains it All. She has also done some writing for small children's shows such as Little Bear and Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! She began to write books when her co-worker James stated she should give it a try.
http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com/bio.htm
Curriculum Ties:
N/A
Book Talking:
How would you fight in the Huger Games?
Challenging Issues:
This book has been challenged many times in many places. If it was challenged, I would go through the selection process with the challenger as well as explain the rationale for the book. There are many good qualities in this book that could be reason to have it in a collection.
Why Read this Book:
This book is one that if you start, you will want to finish it. It has become a phenomenon in our culture and deserves to be part of any library collection where teens are attending. Many teens relate to the concept of fighting for their spot in life. This is reflected in the Hunger Games.
How would you fight in the Huger Games?
Challenging Issues:
This book has been challenged many times in many places. If it was challenged, I would go through the selection process with the challenger as well as explain the rationale for the book. There are many good qualities in this book that could be reason to have it in a collection.
Why Read this Book:
This book is one that if you start, you will want to finish it. It has become a phenomenon in our culture and deserves to be part of any library collection where teens are attending. Many teens relate to the concept of fighting for their spot in life. This is reflected in the Hunger Games.
No comments:
Post a Comment