I finally read this wonderful novel, after hearing many students and colleagues rave about it during the last year. I understand now what the buzz is all about; this is a great read! Suzanne Collins is a talented writer who knows how to craft an interesting and intriguing story-line with characters you grow to care about deeply. This is first of a proposed trilogy; the sequel is Catching Fire (see post, above), and the final installment, Mockingjay, comes out in late August.
Set in a dystopian future America, called Panem, the main character, Katniss Everdeen, her family, and friends struggle to survive against the oppressive control of a ruling district. Katniss is one of those characters you think about after you put the book down; you want to get to know her as a friend in real life because the author develops her personality so well. What ensues as we move from learning about Katniss and her family and home in an outlying and oppressed district of Panem is a fantastic adventure story with plenty of twists, turns, and surprises to keep you flipping pages to learn what happens next.
I give the book a solid A. Highly recommended for all readers 12 and up.
You can read more about the book and author at these links:
- The Hunger Games movie set for production: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2010/07/hunger-games-suzanne-collins-billy-ray-chloe-moretz.html
- The author's website: http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com/
- What is a "dystopia"? Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dystopia
If you liked this book, you may also enjoy: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins; Graceling by Kristin Cashore; Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury; Gone by Michael Grant
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ms. Guiney's review: The Hunger Games
Title: The Hunger Games
Author: Suzanne Collins
Grade: A
Ideal readers: Boys and girls age 12 and up
Summary: Katniss is chosen to represent her district in the "hunger games" where she and her partner will fight the representatives from the other 11 districts to the death (all on reality tv). This is an incredible page turner in the first 150 pages. It takes that long for you to really understand what these children will be expected to do in these games. The book does have a good dose of romance which slows down some middle chapters, but if you can hang in there and suffer some sweet moments in the midst of chaos and killing then you will be rewarded with what I think is one of the best series of books to be written for middle school age readers. If you have not read Hunger Games yet, you are definitely missing out!
You might also like:
No comments:
Post a Comment