Rock the Drop: Photo Op!

Thanks to The Novel Affair for Rocking the Drop!


Marisa dropped The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins on a park bench in San Diego, CA. "We hope that whoever finds it loves it. We hope to start a fire for YA in someone’s heart!"

Rock the Drop: Photo Op!

"Okay, readergirlz, that was a BLAST! Left mine in a plaza and a coffee house frequented by the after school crowd." --Tamara Ireland Stone

Rock the Drop: Photo Op!

Katniss in the beauty aisle! Thanks, Amanda!

I left a copy of The Hunger Games at my local CVS pharmacy. I'm really hoping someone picks it up! It's a great read. --Amanda Worthington

Rgz Street Team: Olivia reviews Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

The rgz Street Team is a group of teens who bring YA reviews to our blog, led by Postergirl Miss Erin. Find out more.

Today, Olivia reviews Catching Fire, the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins *Spoiler warning: if you haven't read the series, skip this post!*:

"Catching Fire continues following the adventures of Katniss and Peeta after their dual District 12 victory in the games.

"In the previous book, The Hunger Games, Peeta’s name was called in a lottery to participate in the yearly hunger games. Katniss’s sister Prim was called as well, but Katniss elected to replace her. In the games, two citizens (called 'tributes') are summoned from each district to fight to the death in an arena full of cameras with the entire nation of Panem watching. The battle lasts days, sometimes weeks, for 23 out of the 24 tributes to be killed.

"While there is usually only one victor, both Katniss and Peeta escaped from the arena alive after convincing the people of Panem that they were in love to receive valuable gifts to use in the arena. When they were the only two tributes left, they both decided to commit suicide and die together. Before they could follow through, the government 'Gamemakers' stopped the games and declared them both winners.

"The second book starts as Katniss, Peeta and their families are living in luxury compared to their poverty before the games, as the Capitol (as the government is called) supplies the victor of the games with better housing and materials. Katniss has a strained relationship with Gale, her best friend before the games who is now jealous and upset about the false love between Katniss and Peeta.

"Before Katniss has a chance to resolve this, she and Peeta embark on their 'Victory Tour' around all twelve districts where they will give speeches and be received with celebrations. However, before leaving she is informed by Panem’s leader, President Snow, that her act of rebellion in the games (the suicide threat) has now started a wave of rebellion around Panem in which she is seen as a symbol. Katniss receives a frightening threat- if she is unable to convince all of Panem that she acted out of love for Peeta, not a desire to rebel, then her friends and family will be killed.

"Though Katniss and Peeta both make an effort to intensify their fake relationship to the crowds on the tour, it is announced when they return home that victors from the previous hunger games will be drawn to participate again. With this, Katniss and Peeta are thrust into the mayhem and terror of the games yet again.

"While Catching Fire is perhaps not as fast-paced or thrilling as its predecessor, it delves much more deeply into the fascinating government structure of Panem and explores the possibility of a governmental collapse. Catching Fire also tours much more of Panem as a whole- Katniss and Peeta visit every district as well as the Capitol, as opposed to the previous book being set in only the Capitol and District 12.

"The set-up of the hunger games arena is also more appealing in the sequel. A fascinating and mysterious area, its structure actually becomes a major part of the storyline. As in the previous book, the tributes from other districts are all very interesting and well-developed characters that add intrigue to the novel.

"Another positive aspect of Catching Fire was that because the basic set-up of Panem, the districts, and the hunger games were explained in the previous book, the sequel was able to focus more on the thoughts and emotions of the characters, Katniss especially.

"Catching Fire is a thrilling novel best for readers in middle school or older, particularly adventure-genre lovers or anyone who enjoys reading about dystopian governments and societies, similar to Margaret Peterson Haddix’s Among the Hidden Shadow Children series."

rgz SALON: Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games, reviewed by Nancy Pearl

Nancy Pearl speaks about the pleasures of reading to library and community groups throughout the world and comments on books regularly on NPR's Morning Edition. She's the author of Book Crush: For Kids and Teens: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Interest; Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason; and More Book Lust: 1,000 New Reading Recommendations for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason, all published by Sasquatch books. Plus, she has her own librarian action figure. How cool is that?!

We're honored to have her here as part of the rgz SALON, a feature where four of the top kidlit experts clue us in to the best YA novels they've read recently. Here's Nancy!

Gregor the Overlander, Suzanne Collins' first novel, is one of my all-time
 favorite fantasies. A brave eleven-year-old hero, page-turning adventures, moral dilemmas, and a super ending made it a perfect book for middle-grade 
readers. Now, in The Hunger Games (the first volume of an intended trilogy), Collins has written a remarkable and thought provoking novel for teens about the oppression and dehumanization of its citizens by an all-powerful central government, evoking George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. At the same time, it’s an impossible-to-put-down action-adventure-romance story. Panem is a wealthy and powerful city in post-apocalyptic North America; it’s surrounded by twelve outlying, poverty stricken districts that serve, in effect, as colonies providing the resources needed to maintain the capitol’s wealth. Sometime in the past the districts attempted a rebellion, which Panem brutally put down. As a reminder to the districts of their powerlessness, the Capitol requires each one to choose, by lot, one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 to participate in the annual Hunger Games, the ultimate TV game show, a fight to the death on live TV, in which the last contestant alive wins fame and fortune. The Games are treated as a huge celebration in the Capitol, with pre-game up-close-and-personal interviews of each “Tribute,” betting on, and opportunities to send aid to, one’s favorites, and round the clock watch parties. The story is told in the voice of 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who we get to know and care about deeply during the course of the novel. When her beloved 12-year-old sister, Prim, is chosen by lot to be the girl tribute from district 12 (formerly know as Appalachia), Katniss bravely, and to the astonishment of all (but within the rules of the game), volunteers to take her place, and sets off on the most dangerous, and exciting, “adventure” of her life. And the reader gets to accompany her every step of the way. One of the things I found so remarkable (and disorienting and disturbing) about this book is the way it was able to pull me, emotionally, into the excitement of the celebration and the adventure of the game itself, almost as if I were experiencing it as a wealthy citizen of the Capitol, even though I knew, intellectually, that what I was reading about was a government forcing children to kill other children. The Hunger Games, surely destined to be a classic of teen literature, is a superb choice for book discussion groups of all ages.