Title: The Hunger Games
ISBN: 9780439023528
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Copyright Date: 2008
Genre: Science Fiction; Dystopian
About the Author:
Thinking one day about Alice in Wonderland, she was struck by how pastoral the setting must seem to kids who, like her own, lived in urban surroundings. In New York City, you’re much more likely to fall down a manhole than a rabbit hole and, if you do, you’re not going to find a tea party. What you might find...? Well, that’s the story of Gregor the Overlander, the first book in her five-part series, The Underland Chronicles. Suzanne also has a rhyming picture book illustrated by Mike Lester entitled When Charlie McButton Lost Power.She currently lives in Connecticut with her family and a pair of feral kittens they adopted from their backyard.
Suzanne Collins. http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/153394.Suzanne_Collins.
Curriculum Ties:
- Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
Plot Summary:
Katniss Everdeen has lived her life in fear and starvation. Though she can hunt and provide for her family, her father is dead, her mother is unhelpful, and she lives in a poor district under the control of the Capital. Just when she thinks that life couldn’t get any worse, her little sister is named to participate in The Hunger Games, a contest put on by the Capital that requires the 12 districts to put a boy and a girl in an arena to fight each other until only one is left. Katniss saves her sister from this fate by volunteering, joining a baker’s son named Peeta in travelling to the capital for the contest. Joining them is an overenthusiastic escort, and Hamish, a drunken, despondent advisor for the pair. For Katniss to survive, she has to overcome the other contestants, the judges’ bias, and her own fear and emotions.
Critical Evaluation:
The tone of The Hunger Games is dark. During the course of the book, Katniss witnesses many people get killed, including the 11-year-old Rue, and the book recalls Katniss’ close death by starvation after her father died. In addition to this, there is a somber mood by many of the characters, which is understandable considering that many of these character’s moments are when they are seeing Katniss for the last time. The mayor and his daughter are an example of this, only really speaking when they are talking to Katniss before she leaves for the games. There is a theme of doing something with purpose during the book, with this being spoken out loud by Peeta on a rooftop in the Capital, and being done by Katniss when she and Peeta threaten to consume poisonous berries if the game producers don’t let them win the game. This helps elevate the book from just being about how terrible the world is to how one can change the things around them.
Readers Annotation:
Katniss Everdeen is part of The Hunger Games, a contest put on which pits her in a fight to the death with twenty three other teenagers. To survive, she is going to have to learn to trust some of her fellow contestants, one of which is a boy that she owes a favor to named Peeta.
Book Talking Ideas:
- Talk about what life in the Capital is like. Look for how that is different from Katniss' descriptions of home.
- Talk about Peeta and some of the things that he does for Katniss. Discuss what might be his motivation for doing those things.
Reading Level/Interest Age: 11-18
Challenge Issues:
- There is considerable violence, with teenagers murdering each other as a basic premise of the story.
- There is drinking in the story, with one character being portrayed as an habitual drunk.
Defense Collection:
- Katniss Everdeen is a survivor. She has to be; she's representing her District, number 12, in the 74th Hunger Games in the Capitol, the heart of Panem, a new land that rose from the ruins of a post-apocalyptic North America. To punish citizens for an early rebellion, the rulers require each district to provide one girl and one boy, 24 in all, to fight like gladiators in a futuristic arena. The event is broadcast like reality TV, and the winner returns with wealth for his or her district. With clear inspiration from Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" and the Greek tale of Theseus, Collins has created a brilliantly imagined dystopia, where the Capitol is rich and the rest of the country is kept in abject poverty, where the poor battle to the death for the amusement of the rich. Impressive world-building, breathtaking action and clear philosophical concerns make this volume, the beginning of a planned trilogy, as good as The Giver and more exciting. However, poor copyediting in the first printing will distract careful readers—a crying shame. (Science fiction. 11 & up) (Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2008)
- Gr 7 Up—In a not-too-distant future, the United States of America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war, to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 12 districts. Each year, two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games . Part entertainment, part brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts, the televised games are broadcasted throughout Panem as the 14 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to watch. When 16-year-old Katniss's young sister, Prim, is selected as the mining district's female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart, Peeta, the son of the town baker who seems to have all the fighting skills of a lump of bread dough, will be pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives. Collins's characters are completely realistic and sympathetic as they form alliances and friendships in the face of overwhelming odds; the plot is tense, dramatic, and engrossing. This book will definitely resonate with the generation raised on reality shows like "Survivor" and "American Gladiator." Book one of a planned trilogy.—Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage Public Library, AK --Jane Henriksen Baird (Reviewed September 1, 2008) (School Library Journal, vol 54, issue 9, p176)
- Awards:
- ALA Notable Children's Books - Older Readers Category: 2009
- Amelia Bloomer Lists - Young Adult Fiction: 2009
- Beehive Awards (Utah): Young Adult Books
- BILBY - Books I Love Best Yearly (Australia) : Older Reader
- Black-Eyed Susan Book Awards (Maryland): High School
- Blue Hen Book Award (Delaware): Teen Readers
- Booklist Editors' Choice - Books for Youth - Older Readers Category: 2008
- California Young Reader Medal: Young Adult
- Charlotte Award (New York): Young Adult (Grades 6-12)
- Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award
- Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award (Rosie Award)
- Garden State Teen Book Awards (New Jersey): Fiction (Grades 9-12)
- Gateway Readers Award (Missouri)
- Georgia Children's Book Award: Children's Book Award
- Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers
- Golden Archer Awards (Wisconsin): Middle/Jr. High School
- Golden Duck Awards: Hal Clement Award for Young Adult
- Golden Sower Awards (Nebraska): Young Adult (Grades 6-9)
- Grand Canyon Reader Award (Arizona): Tween Book
- Heartland Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature (1996-2010)
- Illinois Readers' Choice Awards: Abraham Lincoln Award
- Illinois Readers' Choice Awards: Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award
- Iowa High School Book Award
- Isinglass Teen Read Award (New Hampshire)
- Kentucky Bluegrass Award: Grades 9-12
- Land of Enchantment Book Award (New Mexico): Young Adult category
- Maine Student Book Award
- New York Times Notable Books - Children's Books: 2008
- Nutmeg Children's Book Award (Connecticut): Teen category
- Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Awards: Young Adult
- Rhode Island Teen Book Award
- Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award - Best Mainstream: 2008
- School Library Journal Best Books: 2008
- Sequoyah Book Awards (Oklahoma): High School Books
- Sequoyah Book Awards (Oklahoma): Intermediate Books
- Soaring Eagle Book Award (Wyoming)
- South Carolina Book Awards: Junior Books
- South Carolina Book Awards: Young Adult Books
- Teen Buckeye Book Award (Ohio)
- Thumbs Up! Award (Michigan)
- Truman Readers Award (Missouri)
- Virginia Readers' Choice Award: High School (Grades 10-12)
- WAYRBA - Western Australian Young Readers' Book Awards : Older Readers
- YALSA Best Books for Young Adults: 2009
- YALSA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults: What if ... (2011)
- YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers: Fiction: 2009
- Young Hoosier Book Award: Middle Books
- Young Reader's Choice Award (Pacific Northwest): Senior
- Freedom to Read Statement
- ALA Library Bill of Rights
- Springville Public Library Collection Development Policy
- The Library Director and designated staff actively evaluate and select materials. The Springville Public Library Board, acting under the authority given to it by Title 4, Chapter 6 of the Springville Municipal Code and Title 09 of the Utah State Code, has the ultimate responsibility for the determination of the policies for selection and acquisition of materials.
- Library materials are selected based on the following (not necessarily in order of priority):
- Local public demand and usage potential
- Popularity
- Subject coverage
- Relevance
- Accuracy and currency
- Presentation, readability and format
- Point of view (all sides)
- Cost
- Local connection
- Social values
- Collection balance
- To assess the item based on the above criteria, staff utilize:
- Nationally recognized and relevant pre-publication reviews
- Staff expertise
- Bestseller lists
- Patron recommendations and requests
- Reliable social media reviews
The book The Hunger Games, is a work of dystopian fiction, which is very popular right now. The book itself is also well known, with a series of movies coming out for the book series. As such, it makes sense to add it to the collection in order to fill that patron desire.
No comments:
Post a Comment