1. Title: The Hunger Games
2. Author: Suzanne Collins
3. Illustrator: N/A
4. Publisher and Publishing Date: Scholastic Press, 2008
5. Genre: Young Adult, Violence, Anti-Government, Critical of Media
6. Age range for which the book is appropriate: 7-12
7. I think many students would love to read this book because it has many themes of interest and the plot is addictive. For example, many teen boys would love the book because it is at times very violent and it gives the views of life through the main female character, which would intrigue teenage boys because they could begin to see how a teenage girl thinks. Also, the book would appeal to teenage girls because it deals with the themes of love and also represents a strong female character that makes good decisions.
8. A summary:
The book takes place in a post apocalyptical war society called Panem where some people starve to death, while those in power, at the capitol, reap the benefits of the working class and indulge themselves in every way. The book begins with the narrator and central character, Katniss, illegally hunting in the forest for food to take care of her starving family. We learn as the book progresses that Katniss’s mother basically abandoned them for death after their father died in a collapsed coal mine. Katniss takes over the role of mother and father to her sister, Prim, and even saves Prim from the Hunger Games by volunteering to go in her place. The Hunger Games are games where two teens from each of the 12 districts are forced to fight to the death after being paraded through the capitol city as if they are rock stars. The games were invented as a yearly punishment for the uprising against the government many years before. After leaving her family and boyfriend/hunting partner, Gale, to go to the games, Katniss finds herself in the Capitol City where she and the boy who fed her when her mother was out of her mind, Peeta, are dressed in flames by their stylist Cinna and are paraded as a couple through towns square to loud applause. Katniss begins to fall in love with Peeta as the games begin, and he protects her throughout the beginning portions of the games even professing his love for her during their interviews to make her seem more “Tragic.” Once the games begin many meet their end in bloody death between all those that fight, and even the woods are set ablaze to encourage Katniss to “play.” This entire event is televised to entertain all of the rich people in the Capitol, and Katniss does kill many; in one incident, she drops killer mutated bees on those that are trying to kill her!
9. Personal Response:
I absolutely loved this book. The reading was long, but very addictive as I couldn’t wait to find out if she survived. The book made me feel like I was on a rollercoaster of emotions pulling for Katniss the entire time. The book is very different from any personal experiences that I have had except it did make me feel bad for watching such torturous and violent movies such as Hostel. I found the overall concept of this book to be similar to Lord of the Flies and 1984 at the same time. I also made many connections with other Medias from this book to TV shows like survivor that is based off the same basic principles and many movies that I have seen in the past.
10. Teaching ideas:
I would teach this book to Composition and English I classes as the literature is easy enough for them to read and be interested in. Also, The Lord of the Flies and 1984 are taught in those classes so this would be a great book to pair with them as a form of curricula integration.
An example of a multi-media application I would use with this lesson would be the advertisement for the movie Death Race: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxKYvaIEkIU
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