"The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

Katniss Everdeen is a 16-year-old girl, and the sole provider for her family. She lives in what might once have been America; now it is merely a country divided into 12 poverty-stricken provinces and presided over by the evil Capitol. To remind the people who populate the provinces of their subjugated state, the capitol holds a yearly event called “The Hunger Games.” A boy and a girl from 12 to 18 years of age is chosen from each district. After a short training period, the tributes are thrown into an arena and forced to fight each other to the death. The event is televised and everyone, including the contestants’ parents, are forced to watch it.

This year, Katniss is the tribute who must fight in the arena for the warped entertainment of the capitol. 

Quite frankly, I had a hard time reading this book. It wasn’t that the writing was bad. (In fact, I thoroughly enjoyed Suzanne Collin’s style.) It wasn’t even the violence. It was because Suzanne Collins writes so vividly that I felt like I was Katniss. It was as if I was the one who was in that arena, killing and waiting to be killed. I was the one with the hopeless feeling in my chest, and the raw determination to somehow survive. I was the one watching children being slaughtered. Sometimes I became so involved in Katniss’ emotions that I had to put the book aside. At the end I was left with the depressed feeling in my heart that is ultimately what Katniss feels at the end of the book. 

Over-all, Suzanne Collins does an excellent job of subtly yet openly infusing her views and opinions into the pages of the book. I did not agree with all of those views, but I still had to admire how she was able to express what she believes through a science-fiction novel.

In conclusion, I’d have to say that this book is very well-written and will provide you with an exciting, heart-throbbing adventure, but if you dislike books with dark, heavy content or get very emotionally involved with the characters, “The Hunger Games” might not be for you.

Note to Parents: This book is not for younger readers.

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling

For years, I thought that Harry Potter was a terrible book. I assumed that it was a dark story about witchcraft that glorified evil, and I was shocked if anyone told me they had read it. However, I supposed all these thing without actually having read the book for myself. One day my mom and I made the decision to try it out. We sat down in the living room and started reading it together. I was in love with it from the very first sentence. I discovered quickly that Harry Potter is anything but dark and evil. On the contrary, it is an enchanting fantasy story full of excitement and adventure that makes you think deeply about life.  

In "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," (which is the first book in the series), Harry Potter is a 10-year-old orphan who has lived nearly his entire life with his aunt and uncle. On Harry’s eleventh birthday he discovers a truth that will change his life forever. He is a wizard.

Simultaneously, he receives a letter telling him that he has been accepted at Hogwarts school of magic. Harry is abruptly thrust into a world he never knew existed; the wizarding world. In that world Harry learns that portraits can talk, trolls really exist, and animals sometimes turn out to be people.

Yet he also discovers something else, a fact far more sinister: there’s a dark wizard on the loose, and he wants Harry dead.

Note to Parents: I would not recommend this book for younger children, but rather for ages 12 and up. 

Inspirations 4 Writing

One of the many reasons I admire J.K. Rowling is her stunning imagination. It’s as if she left all boundaries behind when writing about the wizarding world and let her imagination go wild. The result is a book full of spell-binding adventures, fantastical creatures, and magical objects that excite the curiosity and capture the mind’s-eye. If you like writing children’s fantasy, try letting your imagination loose as well and see what you come up with.