Another Review of THE HUNGER GAMES

Over at The Rumpus, as a part of their "The Last Book I Loved" series of reviews, Tasha Cotter writes about The Hunger Games. Like us, she loved it.

NEW - Review Submission Page for Teachers!

Hey, teachers! We would LOVE for you to submit reviews, and we're hoping this will make it pretty easy for you to share your thoughts about the great YA books you read and teach. Soon, we will be adding a page for students to do the same, and after that a page for everyone else.

For now, though, there's only the page for teachers. If you're a student, parent, or other reader of YA Lit and would like to submit a review, please send us an email, and we'll send you what you need.

Review: THE HUNGER GAMES (Book 1 of the trilogy) | Suzanne Collins

TITLE: The Hunger Games

AUTHOR: Suzanne Collins

PUBLISHER: Scholastic, Inc.

DATE OF PUBLICATION: 2008

PAGES: 374

GRADE LEVEL(S): 7-8

RELEVANT CURRICULA: English Language Arts

CLASSROOM USES: Class reading, Literature Circles

BRIDGE TEXTS: The Giver, What Is The What?, Fahrenheit 451

NB: This review is based on the text of Book 1 of The Hunger Games Trilogy. Later reviews will cover the remainder of the series.

Adolescence is marked by struggling to find the line between right and wrong, between making choices and following directions. Every day of his life, every middle school students feels that his free will has been undermined, that he has suffered some injustice. It is the condition of being an adolescent.

What student hasn’t felt trapped—either at home, at school, or both? What student hasn’t felt that she has been wrongly vilified due to some arbitrary decision made by an authority figure? What student hasn’t attempted to elude the watchful eye of a parent, teacher, or administrator, hasn’t broken some rule in order to achieve something that she knows just has to be done. And what student hasn’t felt, at one time or another, that she has been pitted against her peers for no good reason? 

The Hunger Games attacks all of these adolescent struggles in a fast-paced story that teaches strong lessons, but never feels didactic.

The story is set in an almost post-Apocalyptic version of North America called Panem, in which the main role of government is to suppress any sort of uprising of the micro-communities under its control. Each “District” is self-contained, except for once a year, when one boy and one girl from each locality are sent to the capital for a televised fight to the death. The “tributes,” as they are called, are to serve as reminders of the complete control that the central government has over its citizens.

Katniss Everdeen—the book’s heroine and narrator—has fought to survive for most of her life, but never on the level that she will when she is sent as a tribute in the Hunger Games. She faces the very same issues that every student faces in their own lives—feeling trapped, victimized, forced to break the rules—but on a scale they can only imagine.

Parents have protested the inclusion of the Hunger Games Trilogy as required reading in their children’s school’s curricula, and there are legitimate questions to be raised about the content. The Hunger Games does not portray adults—particularly those in positions of authority—in a favorable light. Events of the book are sometimes violent, and almost always hard to fathom.

Ultimately, however, The Hunger Games provides teachers and parents to broach difficult issues. Moral issues abound in this novel, but even for those who want schools to avoid as much as possible the teaching of moral issues, this book cannot be ignored. Students will relate to Katniss and her plight, and The Hunger Games is a wonderful tool to get students to think about big questions. Keep it out of schools, and—don’t look now, but—you’ll be putting the same kind of restraints against students and teachers as the rule-makers in Panem’s capital city put on their districts.

Video: NYPL Panel on YA Lit

The New York Public Library recently hosted a panel on the state of Young Adult Literature. Panelists include educators and librarians; as well as editors from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Atheneum Books for Young Readers; and the Penguin Book Group.

Student Review: THE MAZE RUNNER | James Dashner

Many thanks to Reilly, a 5th grade student in Texas, who submitted this review. We appreciate his input (and, by the way, are quite impressed with his writing ability). If you or someone you know would like to submit a guest review, please email us at info@teachyalit.com.

Title: The Maze Runner

Author: James Dashner

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Date of Publication: 2009

Pages: 374

What Grade Are You In?: 5th, age 10

How did you learn about this book?  

My mom found it online and she said that a whole bunch of people liked it. Then I read the description and the part about The Maze sounded cool and the part about the main character waking up in the lift made me curious, so I checked it out from the library and read it in two days. 

Had you already read any books by this author before you started this one? If so, which one(s)? If not, what made you think this would be a good choice for you?

No, I haven't read any books by this author, but it sounded like a good book and it's description reminded me of the Maximum Ride books, which I really liked. 

What were the two or three things you liked most about this book?

A few things I liked were the Maze, a giant labyrinth surrounding the home of the characters, and the Runners, the people who try to solve The Maze, and the part where Teresa figured out she was telepathic.  I also liked it when the walls moved to close The Maze at night. 

What do you wish had been different about this book?

There's not really anything I would change about this book. People should know that some parts of the book are a little bit scary, and once the characters start to figure out things, the book is very tense.  

Overall, on a scale of 1-5, what score would you give this book?

I would totally give it a 5! It was awesome!

Who do you think would like this book? (Even if you didn't like it, might someone else?)

I think that anyone who likes the Maximum Ride books would totally love this book. This book is probably best for kids at least ten and higher, not younger than ten. For class reading, it might be better for older kids because of some violent and tense situations, and maybe for some mild language. It would be interesting to see other people's reactions to the book, and to compare what other people notice and how they react to different parts. 

Is there anything else you would like to say about this book?

The only other thing I would like to say is that Chapter 59 is really sad.