1.    1. What major changes do you think Katniss and Peeta have gone through since the beginning of the novel?

A: I believe that Katniss and Peeta have become more hardened since the beginning of the novel. Both of them have seen more bloodshed in the span of several days than most people see in a lifetime. This experience must have made Peeta and Katniss much tougher emotionally.

2.      2..How do you think Katniss’ life will change once she gets back to the Seam? Do you think she will continue to hunt because she enjoys it? Will she still go to school?

A: Katniss seems like someone who is very humble and not one to show off so I believe her life will not change very greatly. She may move into the house that all the other winners of the competition live in but I think the only thing she will use her money for is to buy food for her family, and Gale’s for all he’s done to help her. I also think she will continue to hunt because it seems like something she genuinely enjoys doing.

3.      3..Do you think Gale’s view of Katniss will have changes since he saw her in the Hunger Games?

A: I think Gale’s view of Katniss will change slightly because he will realize that she is dangerous and has the capability to kill but I don’t think his view of her as a person will change.

4.      4..How do you think Gale will react to Peeta and Katniss’ intimacy during the games? Will he have an adverse reaction?

A: I think Gale will attempt to seem like he does not care about how Peeta and Katniss acted during the game but I do think it will affect him. Peeta and Gale may even end up fighting to spend more time with Katniss.

      5.  Do you think Katniss will attempt to contact Rue's family in order to give them      some   sort of closure over Rue's death and try to give them some money to try   and pay them back for Rue's help.

           A: Yes, I believe Katniss will contact Rue's family and offer monetary assistance.

6.                  Peeta said that no matter what happened in the arena he wanted to stay as himself. Did             he achieve this?

            A: Yes and no. Peeta did go back to kill that one boy but he also did everything he could               to protect Katniss from the careers.

7.                  After reading the Hunger Games and seeing how often Katniss acts and makes things up             has your view of reality T.V shows changed?

            A: No, my view of reality shows has not changed. I always knew reality T.V shows were    more acting than reality.

8.         Do you think there is a parallel between the class based system of the Hunger Games      and the feudal system of medieval times?

            A: Yes I do. It seems that after dealing with whatever disaster hit society the world          devolved a thousand years back into the heavily class based system of medieval Europe.

9.         Do you think Haymitch's character has changed over the course of the book?

            A: Yes, I think it has changed. It seems that when Haymitch realized that Peeta and          Katniss were true fighters that had a chance of winning his entire attitude changed. At         the end of the book he even warned Katniss of what could potentially happen to her.

10.       Do you think that the wolf hybrids at the climax of the book were actually modified         versions of the contestants or simply animals made to look like the contestants as ploy     against whoever was still alive.

            A: I think it was a ploy because modifying the minds and bodies of the contestants to       resemble werewolves seems like a lot of work for such a menial task.

Suzanne Collins

Bestselling author Suzanne Collins first made her mark in children’s literature with the New York Timesbestselling Underland Chronicles series for middle grade readers. Her debut for readers aged 12 and up, The Hunger Games (September 2008), immediately became a New York Times bestseller, appealing to both teen readers and adults. It was called “addictive” by Stephen King in Entertainment Weekly, and “amazing” by Stephenie Meyer on her website, and was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2008 and a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice.

Catching Fire (September 2009), the second book in The Hunger Games trilogy, debuted at #1 on the USA Todaybestseller list and simultaneously appeared at #1 on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. It was named a Time Magazine Top Ten Fiction Book of 2009, a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, and a People Magazine (Top 10) Best Book of 2009.

Foreign rights for The Hunger Games and its sequels have been sold in 39 countries to date. Movie rights for The Hunger Games have been optioned by Lionsgate, and Nina Jacobson’s Color Force production company will produce the film with Suzanne Collins set to write the screenplay. In April 2010, Suzanne Collins was named to the TIME 100 list of “the world’s most influential people.”

Suzanne Collins has also had a successful and prolific career writing for children’s television. She has worked on the staffs of several Nickelodeon shows, including the Emmy-nominated hit Clarissa Explains It All and The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo. She received a Writers Guild of America nomination in animation for co-writing the critically acclaimed Christmas special, Santa, Baby!

Suzanne Collins lives with her family in Connecticut. For more information about her, please visitwww.suzannecollinsbooks.com.

Journal 4

Well, this is my fourth and final journal, so as Shivu did imma mix it up! So I've decided to make a Grinds my Gears segment based on my major and minor dislikes of the book. First off, the whole idea of the Hunger Games was to show that rebelliousness would not be tolerated and to show that the Capitol owned them. Pardon my language but how the hell would taking innocent children's lives show that they were owned? I mean correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't that just make people rebel even more due to angry? A more efficient way of doing what the capitol intended would be policing around and punishing those who openly opposed instead of punishing weak innocent children. BUT then of course the whole book never would have happened. On to my second dislike of the book, Peeta and Katniss' "star crossed lover story." Come on man! give me a break I thought this was an Action story! Now all of a sudden I'm reading about two poor teens making out in a cave? Hold on playa I want a action packed thriller with tons of action, Katniss running from Cato, He launches a knife at her but BOOM, she dodges it! that kind of thing. I think it was just a little overboard  and dramatic the way they acted in the cave. Those are the two major things that bugged me while reading. But lastly a little side note, the whole gift from sponsors thing didn't make sense to me, how did the get little parachutes to land exactly where the tribute was? and when Peeta and Katniss where in the cave how did they get gifts, does a cave not have a roof? Well i guess that's it for what grinds my gears about Hunger games. Let me know what grinded your gears!

Journal #4

Journal #4

When Katniss made the alliance with Rue, I don’t think she knew that i twas going to be really hard if Rue died, because she reminded Katniss so much of her little sister Prim. When they plan to set the distraction towards the career tributes, and the morning after Katniss cannot find Rue, she gets worried, and that’s when i know that i twas not a good thing because you knew that Rue was going to be killed and it would hurt Katniss. When Katniss hears a scream, she kind of knows that Rue is in danger, she follows the scream and sees Rue trapped in a net and then all of a sudden she has a spear go through her heart.

With Katniss gathering wildflowers and decorating Rue’s body and giving her a proper barial it’s a good thing because it can give some closure between her and how Rue reminds Katniss of her little sister. Katniss also thinks that it shows the Capitol that she is a real person and not just an entertainement piece for the people watching the hunger games.

Katniss knows that the game is on now and that she has to fight for Rue because in her last words Rue told Katniss she has to win the games for her and to sing to her as she dies.

Journal #3

Journal # 3 Alliances

When katniss decides to make an alliance with Rue, she knows that Haymitch might be upset but Katniss knows what she’s doing. In her alliance with Rue, I think it is a good thing because Rue isn’t that much of competetion towards Katniss. There’s bad things about it too, Rue reminds Katniss of Prim, her little sister. That’s a bad thing because she probably will be killed throughout the games and Katniss will see. Or if Katniss has to do it herself so that she could win the hunger games.

I twas a good idea like i said to make an alliance because otherwise Katniss wouldn’t have known stuff like; Peeta isn’t with that group anymore, or that that group has a bunch of food, and how to turn her sunglasses into night vision glasses. Rue is very helpful for Katniss, with the information and the help with her burns. It’s a very good thing that Katniss gave her some food and helped her out to because, otherwise it’s just Rue giving all her help towards Katniss and her not repaying the favor.

When Rue tells her how the career tributes have a big food supply, and that’s when Katniss knows its time to start planning. She has a very good mind for the games, because she knows how to strategize and plan for ahead. I think she has more confidence because it is two of them planning to go hunt for the food supply and not just her because I don’t think Katniss could be able to do it herself, because of all the things shehas been through, throughout the hunger games.

Final Entry!

Since this is my final journal I’m going to talk about something different, what I didn’t like about the book. First off, I did like this book. It had a good plot, good characters and a great setting so most of my complaints are minor and don’t take much away from the rest of the book. I don’t have very many complaints but the few that I do were a little annoying. First, although I like the setting and think it’s great I don’t like that fact that the author did not go into very much detail about its history. One of the reasons I kept on reading the book was to discover more about the world but that never really came. I had hoped there would be more detail about how the world got to where it is now given, to keep the reader coming back for more. I know that this is the first book of a trilogy but it would have been nice if we knew more about the world, so we could care more about the characters struggles. Another complaint I have is about the Peeta-Katniss love story. It was a little interesting when it didn’t take away too much from the action, but near the end of the book it was almost exclusively Peeta and Katniss sitting in a cave kissing each other the entire time. Maybe some people liked that but I wasn’t a big fan of that, I felt that the time focused on that could have been better used to focus on the action in the arena, such as how Cato bested Thresh. Also ,this is just nitpicking, but Gale may as well not have even been in the story. He was there for a few chapters but then basically thrown away and references a couple of times. Those are my complaints, once again I did enjoy the book but I thought I would just share some of thoughts on what could have been better. I’ll be sure to read the other two books in the series when I get the time.

Journal #4

Overall I really enjoyed reading the Hunger Games. There was never a point where I felt bored of reading it. The author, Suzanne Collins, created a great novel for teens that is filled with twists, adventure and love. I find that Katniss is a very interesting character. She has had her share of sadness, when her father passed away and when she was scavenging for food and received help from Peeta, that make you express sympathy for her. But then you read about how much she sacrifices for her family, and how hard she works to hunt and get them food and you realize she is very responsible. Katniss is a very caring person. She enjoys her journey to the Capitol and all the delicious food that comes with it. However she is constantly keeping Prim and her mother in her mind while she is training for the games. Also when she notices the Avox that she didn’t make an effort to save in the past, she apologizes for not helping her. Katniss has proven throughout the novel to be an amazing survivor. Her whole life has been based on staying alive so she develops the skills to hunt, trap and defend herself. These skills along with a strategically thinking mind are what help her win the Hunger Games in the end. I believe what makes Katniss the most interesting is the fact that she is not like the normal main character in every book. After reading the first few chapters of the book I was sure that she would fall in love with Peeta. It was a great surprise that she was the one being loved instead of the other way around, which made this novel far different than most. In conclusion, this is a novel that I would recommend to others and can’t wait to read the second in the series.

Journal 3

In this journal I am going to talk about how I think Katniss feels about the whole situation with Peeta. As we all know after the rule change now allowing two winners from the same district, Katniss finds Peeta and they team up. When she finds him, hes pretty beat up with a particularly big gash in his leg. They camp out in a small cave while she nurses back to moderate health. Katniss makes a realization during her time with Peeta. The more they keep up the "Star Crossed Lover" act, the more gifts they receive from sponsors. Well at least its an act for Katniss, as we know Peeta is truly in love with her as he states in his interview. Katniss and Peeta kiss on numerous occasions and the gifts keep rolling in, mostly food to keep the two going. Deep down I think Katniss is starting to develop some feelings for Peeta but not nearly as much as he loves her. I think it is a scenario where   an obligated fake love is shown but then a legit love comes out but in this case the legit love is not very strong or at least coming from Katniss. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Katniss must be thinking of how things will be if they are to return home with Gale awaiting her return. There has always been something between Gale and with him watching the games on TV, seeing all of the romance between the two will he be upset? Will he fight Peeta for the love of Katniss? What do you guys think?

Journal #3

In this journal I’m going to talk about what effect the novel Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins has on me.  All in all the book excited and interested me greatly. I finished the book pretty quickly, in about week, for these reasons. The book had a great amount of suspense and the author did not go into too much detail about the setting of this book early on. One of the reasons I kept on reading and reading was because I was hooked on this novel’s setting. The books dystopian future setting is great because of how different it is than the current world we live in. The sharp contrast of this society to the one we currently live in is very refreshing because it makes for a book that stands out from all the books about vampires, werewolves and wizards. I also felt that the author handled the plot very well. The book has a lot of great twists as well that made me want to continue reading. For example when Peeta was following the careers around and even went back to finish off one of the other contestants I wondered what was going on in his head and why he was doing this. Aspects like that made me want to continue reading this book. Another intriguing aspect was the back story behind President Snow. Not much at all is revealed about him other than the fact that he is extremely intimidating; similarly Haymitch’s backstory is a mystery as well. What caused a man so rich to fall so far? 

Journal #3

Throughout reading the novel I have noticed a few symbols. Firstly, Katniss’s mockingjay pin that was given to her by the mayor’s daughter to represent district 12. A real mockingjay is a bird that was originally a jabberjay formed by the Capitol to repeat information that they heard from the districts. Once the Capitol had no more use for the birds they left them in the wild and they mated with mockingbirds. They no longer can repeat messages, only songs or tunes. The mockingjay is a sign of rebellion to the Capitol, because they are something that the city couldn't’t control. The mockingjay reminds Katniss of her father because before he passed he used to sing to them and they would repeat his song. It is also associated with Rue, who had a love for music. She would sing a song to the birds to let the rest of her district know that they were finished working.
Secondly, dandelions symbolize hope. This is because after she had seen the dandelion she knew that she would have enough food to feed her family. Most people see these as nothing but weeds, but for Katniss it means keeping her family alive.
Lastly, food is a great symbol for wealth. The author puts huge emphasize on how the amount and variety of food in the Seam compared to the Capitol. In the Capitol they can have anything they wish to eat at a push of a button and they eat far more than they need. In the Seam there are many families that die from starvation and are lucky to be full after a meal. Also they have to work very hard for there food.

Journal #2

I think it was extremely wrong for Katniss to pretend to be in love with Peeta. She completely took advantage of his feelings to be able to win the Hunger Games. Her main reason for pretending to love him and kissing him was to get more gifts from her sponsors, which would help her win. She didn't care much for how Peeta would feel afterwards. I only believe Katniss healed him when he was wounded because she felt as if she owed him for basically saving her life twice in the past. However it could be possible that she helped Peeta because she cared for him as a friend. However, this is highly unlikely based on how much she disliked him during the training. It seems to me that Katniss has more romantic feelings for Gale rather than Peeta. This part of the book reminds me of the reality show “The Bachelor”. This show is where there is one bachelor who goes on dates with twenty-five women who wish to get married with him. A certain number of women are eliminated each week, until the bachelor is left with his final woman he wishes to marry. The reason why this show relates to The Hunger Games is because just like Katniss there are sometimes woman who go on the show for the wrong purpose. They see the show as a way to become famous, since every couple who is formed on The Bachelor is followed my paparazzi and documented in magazines. These woman lie about their feelings to achieve their goals just as Katniss does. In conclusion, I find if you were to relate what Katniss is doing to a real life situation she comes off as a rather careless person.

Journal 2, Capitol Hospitality

This journal will be talking about Katniss and Peetas stay at the Capitol Prior to the games and the differences between the capitol and district 12 (the seam). Along with all the other contestants, Katniss and Peeta have made the trip down to the Capitol for pre-Hunger Game activity. In the book the Capitol is a very rich place and the Seam in District 12 can be compared to a present day ghetto. While reading i noticed the transition from the Seam to the Capitol was drastic like turning a baby to an adult instantly. In the seam, food is are hard to come by and is often illegally sold and hunted, whereas in the Capitol, Katniss and Peeta were introduced to intricate dishes that were new to them.  Each District is also assigned a stylist crew to decide the wardrobe of the contestants. Since Katniss and Peeta are from a poor district they receive a rookie stylist named Cinna who is only making his first appearance as a Stylist at the Hunger Games. At first Katniss thought Cinna would be mean and arrogant but as we get to know more about him Katniss develops a trust in him. Cinna prepares Katniss and Peeta for the opening ceremonies in matching fire costumes that literally burnt bright! This flaming entry to the games won the two contestants the hearts of many sponsors for the Games who may later be more generous in giving gifts to them. Later on, each contestant gets a training session in front of judges who will give them a score. Katniss goes last as she is the girl from the last District. Most of the judges are tired and just want to go home and don't pay much attention to Katniss and this upsets her. Her rage escapes the chains that held it back and she shoots an arrow right through the apple in the mouth of the pig at the judges table nearly hitting a judge, then she storms out. On the day were the training scores are announced Katniss prepares for a low score, but the opposite happens, Katniss scores a remarkable 12 which was the highest of any other contestant. I thought she received a high score because the judges liked the intensity she showed and her impressive accuracy