Reading Skills: The Hunger Games

Katniss is calming her sister, Prim.

               In The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, I found that I made several predictions over the course of the story since there is a cliff-hanger at the end of every chapter. It is a suspenseful book because around every page there is action and you are on the edge of your seat waiting to see what will happen next. In the book, there is a small nation divided into 13 districts and a capital that rules over the rest of the districts. Every year, a boy and a girl from 12 of the districts are chosen to compete in a fight to the death event called "The Hunger Games." The main character, Katniss Everdeen, keeps the reader guessing what will happen and that is one of the main reasons I enjoyed reading this book.
               This book is a lot like the book The Lightning Thief because in both novels teamwork is a concept that is utilized in the theme. In The Lightning Thief, Percy Jackson is forced to team up with two of his closest friends in order to succeed in a mission to return Zeus' missing lightning bolt. This is similar to The Hunger Games in that in order to succeed in the hunger games, you need to form a team with other foes in order to take out your enemy and win the games.
               This book can also be applied to my own life because when I find I am in a difficult situation, I always use my friends to help me out of the tough situation I am engaged in. This is similar to the Hunger Games because in the story Katniss is slightly frightened that her life could be ended during the games but she has friends to help her feel safer even when she is in an extremely difficult situation.
               This book can also be applied to real world activities because all over the world there are professional sports teams that are formed by groups of people who rely on each other. This is like the Hunger Games because Katniss relies on her friend Gale to protect her frail mother and her younger sister Prim who is scared that Katniss will be hurt.
               I found that I asked a lot of questions over the course of the story because Katniss seems to be on an emotional roller coaster in the arena. She is constantly worrying about her little sister, Prim, and it is haunting her ever since she left home. A question I asked was, "Why is Katniss so worried about her sister?" Katniss always worried about her sister and it gave a premonition to the reader that something might happen to Prim that will traumatize Katniss for her entire life.
               I also made several inferences while reading this book in that one of Katniss' allies was Rue. Rue was a small and emotionally unstable 12-year old that reminded Katniss a lot of her younger sister. Rue being so young put her at a disadvantage in the arena with much more mature and stronger young adults, so I predicted that she would be killed or injured at some point in the book. My prediction proved correct as Rue was killed halfway through the book, and it was a depressing moment because of the appeal to emotion the author uses.        
               Overall, this was a great book and I would recommend it to action seekers who love a good cliff-hanger. This is also a great book to make predictions since you are on the edge of your seat at the turn of each page.