The Hunger Games

I read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. This book by Suzanne Collins was recognized by the New York Times as #1 Best Seller and Notable Children's Book of 2008 along with many other awards and recognitions. The book's main character is a teen girl named Katniss Everdeen. Katniss lives with her mom and younger sister in the country of Panem, which is ran by the Capitol, in the twelfth of twelve districts. Every year there is something called The Reaping which is where a boy and a girl are randomly picked from each district to participate in the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games, is a blood-thirsty, last man standing battle broadcasted for everyone to watch. The Gamemaker is over the hunger games, and his job is to make the games interesting for the audience. In district 12, Katniss' sister is chosen, but Katniss volunteers to take her place along with Peeta Mellark as the boy. The middle dives into all the pre-game traditions that Katniss and Peeta hate, but Peeta has feelings for Katniss and the Capitol audience loves the drama. The games begin, there are ups and lots of downs while also some mixed in romance between Peeta and Katniss. The last two left in the hunger games arena are Katniss and Peeta, and neither is willing to kill the other, so Katniss has the idea for them both to eat poisonous berries. However, the Gamemaker needs a winner, so he changes the rules and says that Katniss and Peeta are both the winner of this year's Hunger Games. This is one of my absolute favorite books, and I forgot how much I loved it until I reread it. The appropriate grade level for this book would be fifth grade to twelfth grade. A great and fun activity to do in the classroom using The Hunger Games would be focusing on learning propaganda. One activity would be to have each student pick their favorite tribute from the book, and they have to create a commercial to try to get their tribute more sponsors. I think this is a great activity because it incorporates creativity, technology, and critical thinking.