Thoughts on The Girl Who Was on Fire edited by Leah Wilson.

*If you haven't read The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay, please don't read this post, as there will be spoilers*

I feel a lot of pressure to make my unit on The Hunger Games the best unit ever. There is so much that I can discuss with this book that I feel like I have to do it all! Last week, I asked you for some suggestions for the unit, and your comments were amazing. I am definitely mulling them all over as I plan out my unit. A couple of you suggested I read The Girl Who Was On Fire as a place to gather some ideas about the novel. I actually bought a copy at a Border's sale over the summer, so my copy was already on my nightstand as a resource.

I wasn't sure what to think going into this book. Basically, the book is a collection of essays by various authors on different aspects of the series. I was hoping to walk away with one or two essays to share with my class, but I ended up with a LOT of information about the series in general!

The essays were diverse enough to keep my attention the whole way through the collection. I thought I would be bored of reading about the series by the third essay, but I was surprised to find myself interested in each one. In particular, I thought I would hate the essays on the reality and fashion aspects of the series, since I started to dislike those sections so much in Mockingjay, but I was surprised that I really loved those two essays! Considering the fact that I am teaching The Hunger Games to high school juniors and seniors, I think those aspects of the book will really appeal to them. I already have a discussion planned around the ideas of reality, reality TV, and false appearances. I hope we can have great discussions about how Katniss and Peeta chose to act while "live" on camera. The essay "Smoke and Mirrors" really focused on those ideas, and since the first chunk of the essay stays true to just the first book, I am going to use that section in class.

One of my other favorite essays in the collection was the third, titled "Your Heart is a Weapon the Size of your Fist" by Mary Borsellino. This essay focused on the weapons in the series-those of the Capitol and District 13. But I also liked the idea that Katniss and a few others fight with emotion-with love. It reminded me a bit of Harry Potter in that love can conquer evil, you know? The author brings up what happens with Rue in The Hunger Games as a prime example:

"The effect of this tiny, humanizing act-singing to a dying child-has immediate and far reaching consequences," (34).

When I read that statement, I had to stop for a moment and think about that word choice-"child." While I obviously know that all of the tributes in the Games are children, there was something different about Rue, right? And the fact that Katniss holds on to her humanity and honors her death as a child, well, that IS powerful. Her choice to share her love has a profound impact on what happens afterward in the novel-Rue's district sending her bread, gaining other supplies from other districts and sponsors, and the choice she makes at the end of the novel with Peeta. Because rather than always resorting to violence, Katniss chooses another route. And it works. Because without that symbol of love towards Rue, would the districts have banded together to fight back? Who knows.

The one essay I wish I could share with my class but can't is "Bent, Shattered, and Mended" by Blythe Woolston. The essay focuses on the mental side effects of what happened to Katniss, Peeta, and others throughout the three books (since I don't want to spoil the second and third books, I can't use this one in class, but I will talk about the mental effects of the Games in general terms). I know that there are some who weren't happy with the ending in Mockingjay-that Katniss seemed to have lost her mind and that the ending was unsatisfying. As I said in my review,

"There is no way a young girl of 17 can handle the amount of death and destruction she sees..."

Woolston expands on this a great deal in her own essay, which is probably why I enjoyed it so much. The fact is, Katniss is a battered and bruised war veteran by the time Mockingjay comes to an end. And she is younger than those we allow to enlist in the U.S. Military! That should say something about her psyche! Because as tough and as strong as you think you are, I don't think anyone is prepared to kill another human being-especially in the circumstances Katniss was subjected to.

I am sure that this will be something we'll talk about in class-how Katniss must feel. There is that section in The Hunger Games where she talks about her first human kill, and I am sure that my class will have questions about it. I'm also hoping we'll talk a bit about Haymitch, since he is another example of the PTSD that all Hunger Games Champions seem to suffer from.

In all, I would say that this is a great collection of essays on the series. I was interested in all of them in some way, and I found a lot of interesting tidbits to use as discussion starters in my class. I am also looking forward to my own reading of the book with these ideas in mind. My only wish is that there was one essay without spoilers for the last two books, since I would love to expose these kids to a bit of criticism on a modern book. I will certainly let you all know how they feel about it!

Mockingjay: A Reflection Back and Thoughts.

*I feel I should point out that the first portion of this is safe to read if you haven't finished it. I'll warn you when it isn't.*

That book cover on the left is probably popping up all over your feeds, just as Breaking Dawn and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows did in the past. It is a book that a lot of YA readers have been looking forward to for a year, and like the two titles above, it brings to a close a series that many of us are attached to.

Yep, you read that right: "us."

When The Hunger Games first appeared on shelves, I stayed far, far away. You see, I have this habit of avoiding any book that gets far too much publicity. When I was reading non-classics, I preferred to search through the shelves myself and find things that others glanced over. That is not to say you won't find "popular" titles on my shelves, since you will, but I have always made a point of reading them because I wanted to. That distinction has always been important to me, even if somewhat stupid.

Anyway, I didn't pick up The Hunger Games until last July. I had no idea it was a trilogy, otherwise I just would have waited until all 3 were out. But I read it, loved it, and was hooked. When Catching Fire came out, I read it, loved it, and continued to be hooked. Directly after reading Catching Fire, I launched my blog and my mission to read 250 classics. At the time, I had no intention of straying from my list, but as this day came forward, I realized I was going to cave in. So I decided, "what the hell" and determined to read it.

I knew that there was no way for me to avoid any kind of spoiler in this kind of environment, and to be truthful, I wanted to share in the excitement.I have gone to midnight release parties for books, and I love the amount of drama and excitement that comes with the release of a long-waited for book. It makes me happy to see that people still crave books and literature in this form.

It was with all that in mind that I re-read The Hunger Games on Sunday, and Catching Fire yesterday. I wanted it all fresh so that when I went this morning at 9 (when the bookstore opened) I could get my hands on a copy).


This is the point you should stop reading if you haven't finished Mockingjay and don't want anything ruined.




I was the first person in the store to buy a copy and I immediately came home to read. I had today off anyway, so it was a perfect opportunity to cuddle with the kitties and read. So I lay in bed for 3 and 1/2 hours and only put the book down once for a bathroom break.

I will say from the beginning that I don't the book was what people were expecting. There has been so much focus placed on the romance of the characters that many forgot that the book was about the dystopian element. Yes, Katniss was certainly struggling with her feelings for the boys, but that wasn't the main theme or focus. It came secondary.

Because of that, I think (I could be wrong), that Collins really tried to deliver more of that element to her readers. We were expecting a resolution to the triangle, and we got it. But I personally think the romance angle distracted from the power of the message she was conveying.

The last 100 pages or so are truly powerful. They deliver a deep message the permeated the other two novels-about the rights and power of individuals versus the government that rules them. Katniss, and some of the other characters, believe that they know everything, even being in "power" as they were, but in the end they were simply pawns in a much larger game. The political leaders never filled them in on details unless they were necessary and hid many dark and dangerous secrets. That is what makes the scene of Snow's execution so wonderfully strong. Katniss reminded all of those watching that while a government can control many many things, they can never take away free will and the way a human can choose. She chose to execute the greater of two evils and in doing so, made it possible for something less corrupt to take over.

It is inherent that most governments are corrupt, or at least that seems to be Collins' message.

The end is where I think Collins may lose supporters, but I loved it. Katniss cracks up, as we see her losing it throughout books 2 and 3. The things she has had to endure come out in full force. There is no way a young girl of 17 can handle the amount of death and destruction she sees, so it makes sense that she will lose it. Of course Peeta can understand, so in the end, Peeta and Katniss make sense. They can heal each other and move on-as they both know what haunts the other.

I knew all this from the moment Katniss and Gale are separated, when he apparently tells her to "shoot me" and she doesn't, and then where the roles are reversed. Gale and Katniss never bonded over a protection vow, and owe each other nothing like she does with Peeta. Had Peeta been in Gale's shoes, he would not have hesitated. He would do anything to protect Katniss from harm. That much is clear from everything we know about Peeta. We can't say the same for Gale, which is why is makes perfect sense that if there had to be a resolution to the triangle, that was it.

In all I can say that I really did love the book. It was different than the other two, and I think there are portions in there that Collins felt needed to be there for her readers. My only gripe was the continuous discussion about the cameras and fashion-something that irked me in the other books as well. As a whole, I felt that the epilogue was the best part of the trilogy. It encompassed the fear that will forever haunt Katniss and Peeta, and all of those who lived through it. You could compare that fear to the tragedies in our own history, and the worry that we too will repeat the mistakes of the leaders before us.

It is a book that I think holds far deeper meaning than what I pulled from it in one reading. And I am sure that in the coming days I will think of more to say about this closing volume and wish that I hadn't written this post right after closing the back cover. But I think that while it sinks in I will be glad to have these words to run back to.

"Deep in the meadow, under the willow
A bed of grass, a soft green pillow
Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes
And when they open, the sun will rise.

Here it's safe, here it's warm
Here the daisies guard you from every harm
Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true
Here is the place where I love you," (389-390).