Mockingjay

Collins, S.  (2010).  Mockingjay.  New York: Scholastic, Inc.

This book has been on the Bestseller List of New York Times Children's Books.

              

The third book in this series was by far the most violent of them all.  Katniss wakes up from her injuries and worries about Peeta.  Did he survive?  Then she discovers he is held prisoner by President Snow. She also finds she has been brought to District 13, the district that had been deserted years ago.  Many who had run away from their districts found their way here.  District 13 is trying to overthrow the capital.  They need a champion to get the other districts to follow along with their plan.  They had intended to use Peeta but he was captured by the Capital.  They ask Katniss to be the Mockingjay, their face of hope.  She will only do it if those who were captured would be rescued and she would get to kill President Snow.  There was a successful mission to rescue Peeta and the others, but Peeta has been tortured for too long and at the first sight of Katniss, he tried to strangle her.  Over time he gets a little better but she never knows if she can trust him.  He convinces them that he is okay to go along with the mission to get President Snow.  When they get to the capital, they discover that they have been set up in a trap.  Only five of the thirteen get out to go on, Katniss, Gale, Peeta, Cressida and Pollux.  They decide to go on in different directions.  She gets within a block of the President's mansion when she notices a barricade which is full of children.  At first she believes that they are going to be let into the mansion to get them out of the cold but suddenly realizes they are for Snow's protection.  Then the parachutes come.  The children think they contain something really good so they scramble for them.  The first ones explode, killing or hurting children.  A fire starts to burn her and she drifts into oblivion.   The rebels are victorious but Katniss realizes that President Coin has gotten her way after all.  When she is to kill Snow she shoots Coin instead.   She did it for Prim, her sister. 

I have a love hate relationship with this book.  I hated that so many people had to lose their lives for the race to figure out what was really happening to them.  I love that Katniss and Peeta eventually resolve their differences and have children, there is no mention of marriage.  I also hate that maybe this could be the fate of the world, not just North America, unless the nuclear war threats are destroyed.  I had a feeling of nostalgia when Kat and Gale would go into the woods to hunt.  I lived near a wooded area and we spent a lot of time there.

After reading the first two books in this series, I was definitely anxious to read this one.  I knew something big was happening at the end of the second book and wanted to know what was happening and how it was to come to be.   My love story playing out.

Hunger Games

Collins, S.  (2008).  The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic Press.

In a futuristic North America, lies a small nation of Panem.  Included in this nation are 12 districts and a Capitol.  The capitol is the ruler of all the outlying districts and they are harsh to their people.  Each year one boy and one girl from each district are forced to compete in the annual Hunger Games.  They can be only twelve but only as old as eighteen to compete.  This is not a fun type of game; they fight to the death.  There can be only one survivor.
Katniss Everdeen is only sixteen years old when her sister's name is drawn out of the drum, so she valiantly steps forward to take her place.  The other from the district is Peeta Mellark. 

Katniss is fairly competent with a bow and arrow.  She manages to acquire one when the girl from District 1 is killed by tracker jackets (a deadly mutant bee).  She teams up with Rue, a tribute from District 11.  They destroy the food supply of the Careers.  Then Rue is discovered and killed.  Katniss is heartbroken and shows her devotion to Rue when they pick her up.  She later finds Peeta, injured, and tries to heal him.  Together they prey on the sympathy of the Districts and Haymitch sends medicine for Peeta.  Katniss has to go to the Cornucopia to pick up what is needed for his recovery.  She is almost killed by  Clove, one of the Career players, but Rue's partner from her district, Thresh, helps her out by crushing Clove's skull.  There are only four players remaining now, Katniss, Peeta, Foxface, and Cato.  The thrilling conclusion is just that.

It is a must read for all adventuresome teens and middle school students.  I couldn't put it down from the get go.

Hunger Games has been on the New York Times bestseller list for more than two years.

Expositon:  Hunger Games is the story of a futuristic place called Panem.  The main characters Katniss Everdeen, her hunting friend Gale, and Peeta Mellark. They live in District 12 aka The Seam, where the inhabitants exist by sheer determination.  The government makes it virtually impossible for anyone in the districts to get ahead.  Those that have money are in high positions.

Conflict:  Each year two people (boy and girl) are chosen from each district to compete in the Hunger Games in a ceremony called the "Reaping".  There are 24 contestants in all.  There can only be one survivor in each game.

Rising Action:  At the onset of the games, 11 people are killed.  Katniss is fortunate enough to have picked up a backpack that has things to keep her from freezing at night.  She knows how to sleep in the trees so that helps to protect her.  Being alone is good but she teams up with Rue from another district.  She and Rue destroy the food stash of the District 1 and 2 competitors but Rue is caught and killed.  Katniss has to kill or be killed.  There is an announcement that two from the same district can compete together and win as a team.

Climax:  Katniss searches for Peeta, not knowing if he is even still alive.  The last time she saw him he was warning her to run away because Cato was returning to the scene of the bee attack.

Falling Action:  After finding Peeta, she has to heal him before they can go on.  They hide out in a cave and are given gifts from the sponsor to keep them alive.  They end up winning as a team but then the announcement is recinded.  Two people cannot win the games.  They go back to the lake where their backpack is waiting for them.  One must die.

Resolution:  They decide to eat poison berries to end both their lives and the officials decide to allow them both to live. 

Literary Elements:

• Cosmic Irony - Katniss and Peeta are in a situation that neither would have chosen had it not been for the unlucky draw.
• Imagery - Description of scenery, the mutated bees, the mockingjay (how Rue and Katniss communicated with each other) you could almost hear it while reading.
• Point of view - third person limited omniscient - We only know what is going on with Katniss through the entire story.

Chains

Anderson, L.H.  (2008). Chains.  New York: Antheneum Books for Young Readers.

Isabel was the daughter of Dinah and Cuffe, a slave couple.  Her father was sold away from the family and Isabel, Ruth and their mother were owned  by Miss Mary Finch.  Her mamma had just died and it was just Isabel and her sister Ruth.  Ruth was kind of simple, didn't talk much, but Isabel was well learned.  Miss Mary had taught her how to read and they were supposed to be free when she died.  Miss Mary's nephew was the sole survivor of Miss Mary's family.  He would not believe that the girls were to go free.  He sold them to a couple who lived in New York.

New York was humming with talk of the War.  Many Americans were rebelling against King George and England in an attempt to break free of his rule. Isabel and Ruth were placed into the cellar with the potatoes. 

The trait that I chose was  “References to well-known events or people or other clues through which the reader can place the happenings in their correct historic framework.” The part that caught my attention was the plot by the Loyalists and Major Hickey to assassinate General Washington (p.89-90).  I was relieved that the attempt failed.   I felt that Ms. Anderson’s rendition of the battles that took place in New York during the Revolutionary War through the eyes of a young slave girl was very authentic.  It made me see a new side to the war that ripped the United States away from the rule of England and King George.  I was so touched by Isabel and her fight to free herself and her “brother” Curzon on their way to free her sister Ruth.  The pain she went through trying to gain that one ounce of self-preservation had me crying, steaming, angry, and hopeful.  If I could have reached through time I would have tried to help the poor girl, just like Lady Seymour did.  I am so glad that she got away and saved Curzon, too.

I would suggest this book to middle school and young adult readers because of the historical value and incidents that lead to some of the main conflicts against General Washington.

Catching Fire

Collins, S. (2009).  Catching Fire. New York: Scholastic Press.

In the second book of the Hunger Games Series, Catching Fire, we find Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark heading out on the victory tour train after their win at the games.  In District 11, Katniss finds the people giving the sign that she gave when she buried Rue in flowers.  She finds that she has begun an unrest in Rue's district that she cannot stop.  She does not even know if she wants to try.  The scary part for her is that she must make President Snow think that she and Peeta are madly in love.  

Then comes the announcement, there will be a Quarter Quell.  It is the 75th Anniversary of the Hunger Games.  What they don't know about it is how they will choose the players.  Then the next announcement comes as a shock; the players for the Quarter Quell will come from the surviving members from each prior game.  That meant that Katniss, Peeta and Haymitch would make up the candidates from District 12. 

The games are set to begin and Katniss and Peeta are groomed to go back into the arena. During the training sessions, Katniss tries to make friends with some of the other tributes but decides she only wants to make sure Peeta gets home alive. Katniss, Peeta, Finnick, Johanna, and Beetee team up to try to survive.  They devise a plan to get rid of the others and then plan to blow up the force field that surrounds the arena.   They are all removed from the arena.  Katniss is taken to District 13 and Peeta is captured and taken to the Capitol.  She doesn't know if he is alright or not.  

In this book, Katniss and Peeta become closer to each other.  They  know they can trust each other but can they trust any of the other tributes.  She finds that she is now the mockingjay and District 12 is no more.                                        

 This book was on the New York Times Bestseller List for more than a year.

Exposition:  The sequel to Hunger Games brings back our hero Peeta and heroine Katniss who are still reeling from the first games and are back at District 12.  

Conflict:  Katniss is threatened by President Snow to quelch the rebellion that has begun since she and Peeta won the games 9 months ago.  She stops a Peacekeeper from flogging Gale to death and gets hit on the face with the whip.

Rising Action:  Katniss fights her real love for Gale and her undesired love for Peeta as she is pulled into the game yet again.  She decides to help Peeta come out on top this time.  They train and watch films of the other players, some of them are champions from up to 50 years ago. They realize that most of these champions are too old to really be competition.

Climax:  During the games they realize that they are in a dome with an electrified force field surrounding it.  They also find that each spoke of the wheel that they were on when  they started, was actually the face of a clock.  If you were in a section during a certain time you could end up dead.

Falling Action: After a while, Katniss realizes that everyone in their party wants to keep Peeta alive.  She teams up with those who are on the same page as she is.  When things go wrong she shoots an arrow with the electrical wire through the force field flaw and that ends the game.  A hovercraft picks her up and takes her hurting bleeding body away.  She hopes Peeta got away.

Resolution:  Katniss has been asked to be the Mockingjay, the spokesperson for District 13, that will help the other districts to take down the Capital.  She will only do it if those captured by the Capital are freed and given their freedom.  She is obsessed with her hatred for President Snow.

Literary Elements:  The imagery is masterfully inserted into the writing element.

Point of view - third person limited omniscient - We only know what is going on with Kat through the entire story.