The Hunger Games

I have finally read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and I must report it is a truly excellent and fantastic book. It does remind me a lot of The Selection, although again instead of brutally fighting others to the death (a game of survival), The Selection is about fighting others for "love" or a chance at a better life. However, both books are about a televised and highly political game that could mean a chance at a new life for those who suffer from poverty and hunger. 

As a teacher I must comment on how this young adult novel makes me nervous when I think about the age group and sophistication levels of my students who I see reading this series. I found many parts of it to not be inappropriate per se, but rather I don't see how my students in particular can fathom the political implications of the book and understand the gravity of the situation these different district members find themselves in. The book is really quite dark and calculating and shows the discontent between a people and their government. When I have my own children I don't feel like I would keep them from reading this book, but I'd want to discuss it with them and have them dive into analyzing what the book is truly about. For some of my kids who are anywhere from 2 years or more behind in their reading level, I wonder if they can truly grasp the plot or if it simply goes above their head. 

For some kids this book might be exciting as it is action-packed and filled with violence. The love affair between Katniss and Peeta is superficial so that doesn't pack many thrills - it's more of a necessity for the two tributes to survive and you can tell that Katniss, our heroine, is confused as to where her true romantic feelings lie. I have found that children love violence ... they like to hear about it in history and read about it in books or play it out in video games and relish its grotesqueness in movies. I would want to push parents who let their kids (particularly their middle school children) read this series to have those discussions with your kids about what's really going on and what it would be like to live in a revamped United States where every district is at the mercy of the Capitol. For me, I could tell that the author, Suzanne Collins, has a negative bias toward her fictionalized Capitol. She fuels her main characters with a hatred for the Capitol where the people have everything and punish the 12 districts by putting on the Hunger Games every year where they take children away from their families and humiliate the districts by treating this bloodbath as a festivity. I like the message she's trying to convey but I wonder if our middle school kids will get that message or just become infatuated with the spears and swords and mutated beasts. Let's dig deeper! 

Having seen the movie before reading the book I was quite pleased with both versions (I found them to be pretty similar). I'm excited to see the second movie, but I will be reading the book beforehand. At times I felt bummed out reading this excellent story in that I already knew the ending and the twists and turns that would have normally kept me alert and intrigued. There is something to be said though in that while I could anticipate the plot (having seen the film) I still read the first 100 pages in an hour on a school night. The book is highly engaging. As I said before it is also incredibly sophisticated and I appreciate the author's zeal in exposing the harshness and cruelty of this world - I only hope it continues as the series goes on. I want more rebellion, more fights for equality ... I want our children who read this book to note how the world of Katniss Everdeen is unfair, but that it's possible to fight back against an unfair world even though the cost may be great. 

I think these books have a lot to teach and I want them to be explored vigilantly. "Taking the kids from our districts, forcing them to kill one another while we watch - this is the Capitol's way of reminding us how totally we are at their mercy. How little chance we would stand of surviving another rebellion. Whatever words they use, the real message is clear. 'Look how we take your children and sacrifice them and there's nothing you can do. If you lift a finger, we will destroy every last one of you. Just like we did in District Thirteen." District Thirteen was obliterated in the last rebellion the districts had against the Capitol. Let this story be a foreshadowing though, I hope, of a young girl who will rally those around her to fight again for equality and harmony that currently does not exist in their somber world. 

This story is fun, exciting, intellectually charged, political, (better than TV's 'Survivor'), beautiful, and poignant. I'm exciting to read Book Two.