The Hunger Games is a great book, and not just for certain people. Anyone can fall in love with the amazing way that Collins can portray the scene so well it makes you feel like you are right there, seeing the characters yourself. Fast-paced and dynamic, this book can fall under many categories. You really get to know the characters. And I find the plot is so fresh you want to read it again and again, soaking up all that you can of this tantalizing story.
I've read it 16 times, and I've noticed that it's really well put together, no changing or repeating facts, or forgetful sentences. It's almost perfectly thought out.
There's so much you can take away from this book. I found that every time that I or someone else reads it, there is something new that I never saw before. Something amazing! For example, I recently noticed that the world in which it takes places is much like ancient Rome: the districts, the names of the people, and even the games themselves, giving a great realistic touch to an otherwise purely fictional book. Also, the pure realism of the characters: brave Katniss sacrificing herself for her sister. Sweet Prim, who at age 12 has had to deal with the loss of her and Katniss's father, and the fact that their kind of survival is sadly and stunningly rare. Charming Peeta, whose every word so convincingly pure he has the whole country hanging on his every move. And every other person, real, living, breathing.
So, yesterday was one of those great days at the store where everything went right. Teachers came in to buy mass quantities of paperbacks to keep their students reading during the summer, Love, Aubrey (a fantastic middle reader I reviewed in may) came out in hardback, new kids I'd never met came in and bought books I'm passionate about and to top it all off with a big fat scoop of awesomeness, I picked up 5 (5!!) new kid reviewers.
The Kid Reviewer program at my store is simply this: kids who really love books come in and talk to me about the books they like. I make them write a little staff pick card (with the word "staff" covered up with a handwritten "kid") and then I give them a free Advanced Reader Copy for their effort. Best case scenario, they come back in and and write a review for the ARC, but it doesn't always happen that way.
The best thing about the Kid Reviewers is that the only kids who even WANT to do it (it is offered way more than it is done) are kids who are passionate about books, kids who really, really love to read and who are, always, way more intelligent than kids their age have any right to be (which really just means smarter than me). Which are, of course, the kids that are the most fun to talk to.
I finally made a little notebook, in which I can compile things like contact information, birthdays and books reviewed to really keep track, since it's a rapidly expanding program. So hopefully, in the fall we can start doing events.
I left the store yesterday unable to stop smiling. There's a reason working in a bookstore is awesome, and for me, it's kids like the kids I got to talk to yesterday. One of my coworkers suggested a career in teaching. I told her that was a terrible idea. In teaching, you're put in the position of assigning reading, forcing it upon kids, making it a task. At the store, I don't have to do that. The ones who actually WANT to read, and are really passionate about doing so find me. Of course, I love to work with reluctant readers too. If you can hook a kid on reading, it feels fantastic. But there's something so warm, so validating, so heartening about the kids who love it all on their own. Whether or not they're reading books I like (which much of the time they are not) they're reading, and in the age of youtube, Kindle and twitter, it's particularly meaningful. To me. Career nerd.
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There's so much you can take away from this book. I found that every time that I or someone else reads it, there is something new that I never saw before. Something amazing! For example, I recently noticed that the world in which it takes places is much like ancient Rome: the districts, the names of the people, and even the games themselves, giving a great realistic touch to an otherwise purely fictional book. Also, the pure realism of the characters: brave Katniss sacrificing herself for her sister. Sweet Prim, who at age 12 has had to deal with the loss of her and Katniss's father, and the fact that their kind of survival is sadly and stunningly rare. Charming Peeta, whose every word so convincingly pure he has the whole country hanging on his every move. And every other person, real, living, breathing.
That's an awesome review! Clare says it better than I ever could (are you sure she's eleven? i think she's lying, you should check her driver's license), though I just want to add that I forced my boyfriend to read the Hunger Games and now he's good and hooked on Catching Fire. yay, hunger games!
woo, Iain reading Hunger Games!
and yes, Clare really IS 11. Hard to believe, but true. I was talking to Rich about this review, and he figured I'd given her the ancient Rome comparison, but that was something she actually brought up on her own, and was a reading I'd never considered. At all. I did make her put it in the review though. The extent of my influence here: "Put that thing you said about Rome in. Talk about why it's special to you. We're gonna call it "ancient" Rome, not just Rome." and then actually typing it in.
Clare is smarter than me.