The Hunger

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Review Author(s): James Blasingame, Michael Jung, Bridgette Stahn, Fran Bard, Kyle Williams and Elizabeth Koebele Review by: James Blasingame, Michael Jung, Bridgette Stahn, Fran Bard, Kyle Williams and Elizabeth Koebele Source: Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Vol. 52, No. 8 (May, 2009), pp. 724-725 Published by: on behalf of the Wiley International Reading Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27654335 Accessed: 24-03-2015 04:39 UTC

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Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 52(8)

May 2009 ? 2009 International Reading Association

(pp. 724-739)

Reviews

Books for Adolescents

James Blasingame

Michael Jung

Bridgette Stahn

Fran Bard

Kyle Williams

Elizabeth Koebele

doi:10.1598/JAAL52.8.8

724

?|H The Hunger Games

j?jl Suzanne Collins. 2008. New York: Scholastic. 384 pp. US$17.99.

^H In Suzanne Collins' engaging tale about a dystopian future, life has

^H become very hard in the country of Panem (which very much re

DlffiJH sembles a future United States). Starvation is a very real part of life, ^ and the tyrannical central government, which rules from a geo

graphically protected Capitol, keeps the citizens of 12 outlying districts hungry and subservient while exploiting their natural resources and cheap labor. Citizens

are so worried about where their next meal will come from that they seldom

bother to think about the totalitarian government which oppresses them.

But life is not without entertainment in Panem. The annual Hunger Games

provide excitement, encourage regional pride, and could mean sudden wealth for

a small group of impoverished citizens. Every child between the ages of 12 and

18 must take part in a national lottery. The "winners" of the lottery, two from

each of the 12 districts, are taken on a luxurious trip to the Capitol, where life

is very different from life in outlying districts. The 24 newly famous teenagers are the guest stars of several days of festivities, all of which are televised, includ

ing pageants and interviews and "up close and personal" profiles, which attempt to make them the darlings and heroes of the general populace. Then they are

dropped into a combat zone and fight each other to the death. On television.

During the Hunger Games, all citizens of Panem watch in horror and hope as

their own representatives struggle to survive.

The book's 16-year-old protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, has grown up in

District 12, the coal mining district, where life is already hard but has been

even harder for Katniss since the death of her father. Unlike typical 16-year-olds

(boys or girls), Katniss frequents the forbidden wilderness area outside of town,

hunting game and gathering medicinal herbs, as well as edible plants. She is the

sole provider for her family, has learned how to defend herself from predators, human and animal alike, and has considerable skill with the tools of her trade,

which include bow and arrows, knives, and snares. She seems a likely candidate

to survive the Hunger Games, outlasting, if not killing, all the other "tributes,"

as they

are called.

Katniss's chances at success are either complicated or enhanced by the other

tribute from District 12, Peeta Mellark, a classmate from school who may very

well have loved Katniss his whole life, if he's telling the truth. He also may be

faking his affection for her to gain sympathy from sponsors and viewers, who

can pay exorbitant prices to send special gifts to needy tributes during the games,

such as much needed medicine or special weapons. Katniss waivers between

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killing and saving Peeta until the moment he proves

his real intentions. Regardless of Peeta's true feelings for Katniss, only

one tribute can win according to the

rules.

Collins's story is one part reality television show,

one part classical Greek hero story, and one

part ro

mance. Readers around the world are raving about

how engaging this story is and how they raced through the book to find out what would happen next. There

are heartwarming, gut wrenching, and

even comical

moments in the book, and both Peeta and Katniss are

sympathetic characters from the start, but the reader's

attachment to them grows as the story progresses. One

of the most compelling things about the story, how

ever, is how familiar it seems. It feels very much like

the current brand of reality television in which the

"stars" are real people from dire circumstances who

have fabulous wealth dangled in front of them only to have it snatched away at the last moment. In addi

tion, with the current tendency of television viewers

to get hooked on a certain program with cumulative

rather than merely episodic plots, readers will have

no trouble being hooked on the Hunger Games and

coming to view each of the young gladiators as a dis

tinct and interesting personality, like those on reality television.

This book is devoid of sex or bad language, but

brutal murders can make the story a bit disconcerting at times, making it most appropriate for upper middle

school readers, high school readers, and adults.

Reviewed by James Blasingame, Department of

English, Arizona State University, Tempe, USA

"jyg^n Selkie Girl

ShK?^ Laurie Brooks. 2008. New York: Alfred A.

B1^,S

: \ Knopf. 262 pp. US $15.99.

BP^HH4I Award-winning playwright Laurie

Ky?MHBS: Brooks weaves a magical tale about

Hp^CBPj acceptance and belonging with Selkie

^m^^^&Jf Qirl9 a novel that draws inspiration from the Scottish myth of the selkies?mythical seal

people who can transform into humans by shedding their skins.

Elin Jean always knew she had a special relation

ship with the sea. Born with webbed hands that brand

her as a freak on the Shapinsay Island in the Orkneys,

she's always felt more comfortable swimming with

the seals than with the island children, who call her

"Selkie Girl." Even her love for her grandfather and

attraction to the gypsy boy, Tarn McCodrun, cannot

quell her longing to escape into the sea.

Then one day Elin Jean discovers a shocking secret?her mother is a selkie who has been held in

captivity by her selfish father since he stole her magi cal seal skin years ago. When Elin Jean discovers the

skin in a hidden drawer, she returns it to her mother,

who transforms into her seal form and swims away.

Feeling abandoned, Elin Jean follows her mother

into the sea and magically becomes a selkie herself,

albeit one with human fingers that mark her as an

outsider. While searching for her mother, Elin Jean is

adopted by the selkie folk who inform her of a proph

ecy foretelling of a child born of land and sea with the

ability to save the selkies.

Unwilling to believe she is "the one foretold,"

Elin Jean nevertheless decides to learn about selkie

culture and find the "knowin"'?the selkie word for

a better understanding of yourself and your place in

the world. Yet even after months of studying with her

teacher Arnfin and the Arl Teller, a wise storytelling

matriarch, Elin Jean still finds herself ostracized by the younger selkies, making her wonder where she

truly belongs: on the land or in the sea.

But when Elin Jean's human father begins slaugh

tering seals in a vengeful attempt to punish his wife

for leaving him, Elin Jean realizes she must protect her

adopted family. As the islanders prepare for the cull, a

bloody tradition where men kill baby seals to thin the

population, Elin Jean joins the selkies on their annual

birthing journey to the beach where she must make

peace not only with her mixed heritage but also be

tween the humans and selkies. ~

Based on her award-winning play, Between the ?

Land and the Sea, Laurie Brooks' first book simulta- ^ <

neously reads like a timeless myth and a contempo- -

rary coming-of-age novel. While many selkie myths j? o end tragically, with the selkie mother abandoning her <g

children after regaining her true form, Brooks offers g a hopeful ending where one can form a stable family >

while realizing as Elin Jean does that, "Belonging's ^

not a place. It's inside you." 725

I Reviewed by Michael Jung, Mesa, Arizona, USA.

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