this reminds me of the books that made me fall in love with reading.
I have a fierce appreciation for authors who give young readers credit for being able to handle difficult content, when so many people would shelter them from it and hand out fluff. I think of Harry Potter with all its talk of good and evil, but in the end everything is black and white the baddies are bad and the good guys are good. The Hunger Games refuses to make it that simple and while the reader undoubtedly will root for Katniss and Peeta they are also faced with the awful reality of what this struggle for survival really means.
J.R.R. Tolkien said “it is always best for children to read a bit above their heads so that their books, like their clothes, will allow room to grow in.” This book allows room to ...
The Hunger Games is an exciting new prospect for us; a fresh, new, and possibly terrifying way to imagine our futures in this world. It gives us that foreboding feeling, that 'What if?' voice in our minds that chills our blood.
What if this is where we're all headed to in the future?
Katniss is a relatable protagonist; one who you feel like strangling at certain times for being so paranoid and dense, but also the sort that you can emphatize with, despite the fact that we'll never be thrown into a brutal gladiator game. [cross your fingers on that one]
Perhaps it's her frank reasoning for everything that's thrown her way, her quiet confidence in facing the audience who could be her potential sponsors that make the difference between her life and death, the way she keeps telling herself to be strong for others when ...
A great deal grittier than I was expecting, but I can't think of another book this year that had me so riveted.
My father was particularly fond of mockingjays. When we went hunting, he would whistle or sing complicated songs to them and, after a polite pause, they’d always sing back. Not everyone is treated with such respect. But whenever my father sang, all the birds in the area would fall silent and listen.This is sure to come back. Maybe Katniss will use use a mockingjay to distract an opponent? Perhaps the reader won't even be in on the trick, and we'll think she's dead? I guess that would be pretty difficult to pull off in a book written in the first person.
Ah—lots of new vocabulary early on to let us know we're reading science fiction. Everything must have an unfamiliar nickname—from events like "the reaping" to places like "District 12," "the Seam," "the Meadow," "Panem," and "the Hob."
Additional information
- Pages: 384
- ISBN: 0439023483
- EAN: 9780439023481
- Binding: Hardcover
- Publisher: Scholastic Press