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From books to movies, cooking and fitness, I blog about everything under the sun! Reading is a passion of mine, so you will find MANY a post about young adult fiction, especially since I am a teacher to 8th grade students.
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As if I didn't have enough on my plate (hey, I guess my kids can skip a few dinners this month, right?!), I've launched a new young adult book blog fueled entirely by middle school writing. My students are a talented bunch of kiddos, and they've written exceptional book reviews throughout this year. I couldn't let their impressive writings go to waste, so I've decided to post their reviews on a new book blog titled On the Middle Shelf. I'm also going to be teaching classes of Gifted & Talented students next year, and I hope to add music reviews, movie critiques and the random musings of 7th and 8th grade students (yikes!). Add our blog to your frequently visited sites, and I promise you will find all kinds of interesting information to keep you entertained!
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I've been a very bad blog host lately, and I'm hoping that this summer I can spend more time discussing and rehashing all of the things going on in pop culture on this blog. Until that time, I will leave you with just a few minor updates on our Hunger Games fame. We were guests on the Tuesday, April 26th show of the Blog Talk Radio program, Hunger Games Fireside Chat. Gary Ross may be extremely busy casting his movie (which I definitely have opinions on, but don't have time to post and share tonight), but 8th graders don't seem to comprehend that he just might be too busy to hop on a plane, fly to Lubbock, and hang out with them for a few days. My students as EVERYDAY if he's coming. It never gets old. ;) To tide them over until his arrival or the premiere of the movie, we've been giving interviews. Here is our latest interview with HG Fireside Chat:
Pretty awesome youtube title, don't cha think? :) If you are a fan of the movie and books, you definitely need to subscribe to this podcast. The show is chock full of great information about the upcoming movie, and has interesting discussions about the books and characters.
Here are a few of the pictures they took of my class the day Joe Gulick (Reporter for the AJ) had the pleasure to talk to my class. The class he interviewed is mostly composed of ornery, smart boys ( a lethal combination in middle school). They had great fun yanking his chain and telling him whoppers. I had to constantly say, "Please do not write that down," to Mr. Gulick repeatedly. The little turds are letting fame go to their heads. :)
0 Comments on Our Hunger Games Fame Continues! as of 1/1/1900
Here is our local Fox News 34 covering our big brush with Hollywood and The Hunger Games!
To say we are excited that the local news media was able to actually TALK to Gary Ross, would be a gross understatement. Here's to hoping he can visit our school (and cast us as extras in the movie...just a suggestion.).
1 Comments on GARY ROSS KNOWS MY NAME!, last added: 1/14/2011
Congratulations! Your Hunger Games program looks fantastic! I am an admin on hungergamestrilogy.net, and we would love to interview you! Please e-mail me at [email protected] if you are interested!
If you are a Hunger Games fan, then you know who Gary Ross is, right? The guy who has the future of the franchise in his hands is sorta well-known around this blog . He has the power to take this book to premiere status, and everyone in Hunger Games Land has an opinion of what the movie should and should NOT contain.
My students LOVE & ADORE this novel, and also have very strong opinions about the movie. Never mind the fact that they are 13 and 14 years of age, they have specific and ENLIGHTENING expectations of what they want this movie to look like and contain. Many people believe 8th graders do not have coherent thoughts, but I'll be the first to go to bat for them - they are INTELLIGENT little humans!
Before our Thanksgiving break, I decided to mirror something that I had witnessed in the "Making of The Outsiders" documentary I viewed two years ago. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is a gritty story of teens and their "real" problems - a story that had nothing to do with "Sally Sue's First Spring Dance". It was nothing like the adolescent literature that was on bookshelves in the late 60's. Word of mouth from teen readers fueled the sales of Hinton's groundbreaking work. A group of middle school students in Fresno, California were so passionate about the novel, their librarian encouraged them to write a famous director and beg him or her to make this novel into a movie. The students chose to send their letters to Francis Ford Coppola, the director of the Godfather films. Coppola states in the documentary that he was impressed with the students opinions and heart-felt pleas to turn this book they loved into a movie. Simply put, the cult-classic film, The Outsiders was created because STUDENTS put pen to paper and voiced their opinions.
Hell hath no fury like an 8th grader scorned! Don't let us down, Gary!
I hoped my opinionated students could repeat history, and write letters that would influence the director of THEIR beloved novel, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Ross having recently been named the film's director, it was the perfect time for student to send voice their opinions to the man in charge of it all. Taking the opportunity to teach proper letter format, I had my students HAND WRITE their letters on our school letterhead. They could say whatever they felt in the letter (and trust me, they didn't hold back), but they couldn't be insulting or stupid (even though I'm afraid several of those letters leaned toward the latter:).
Before writing, we created a "non-negotiables" list of book components that HAD to be in the film, and also discussed faux pas we didn't want repeated in HG, that we'd noticed in other films based on books. From there, they crafted their letters with much thought and calculation. Then came my contribution to the assignment: finding a DAD-GUM MAILING ADDRESS FOR GARY ROSS. I Googled my little heart out, and nearly gave up on
1 Comments on Gary Ross, Director of 'The Hunger Games' Gives My Students a SHOUT OUT!, last added: 1/11/2011
Wow...This is momentous! What a great idea. Your students will remember this forever. Can't wait to see the film with my kiddos, who are slightly older (juniors + seniors) but super excited nonetheless!
As a fan of The Hunger Games, I'm more than nervous about what the Hollywood scene will do to this movie. I've seen through the first Twilight film how they can totally twist the book into something that it's not (hello, Twilight the action film? Uh, no, thanks!). According to Entertainment Weekly, Gary Ross will most likely be the director of the film I'm waiting on pins and needles to be made. Can we get a cast list for crying out loud? Hire the dang director and let's get this show on the road!
Darren Franich, a columnist for EW has concerns about the movie that he shares in his open letter to Gary Ross that I've copied for you below. After reading his letter, now I have even more stuff to worry about. I agree with Franich, though. Read the book meticulously, Mr. Ross. METICULOUSLY. Talk to Suzanne Collins. Jump inside her brain. Do NOT try to stamp YOUR "artistic" vision on this and turn it into a pop-culture disaster like Twilight. Granted, those movies have made mega-money, but true fans were sorely dissappointed. Stick to Collins's vision for this movie, and we will all leave you alone. That is all...;)
Dear Gary Ross: According to Variety, you’re all-but-officially the director of the Hunger Games movie. Congratulations! You haven’t directed a movie in seven years — Seabiscuit, saw it– and now you’re at the center of the next big young-adult franchise. Hooray! Now, I hope you won’t mind, but I have one minor request: Please, please, please, please, don’t make The Hunger Games gritty. Don’t shoot the movie with handheld cameras. Don’t bleach all the color out of the film stock until everything looks like rusted Depression-era gunmetal. Don’t forget: Katniss Everdeen is not Jason Bourne.
Now, I’m no snob. Gritty can be cool. Heck, calling a movie “gritty” used to be a compliment. Saving Private Ryan, The Lord of the Rings, and The Bourne Identity all took sainted genres known for glossy excess — the war film, the fantasy epic, the espionage thriller — and smeared them in mud. Actors spoke every line in an angry whisper. The color scheme was monochromatic, mostly hovering between comatose-blue and industrial-gray. It was awesome…for awhile. But now, “gritty” is everywhere. We’ve seen the Gritty James Bond movie, the Gritty Superhero movie, the Gritty Twilight movie, the Gritty Terminator movie. We’ve seen Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood, the single muddiest movie ever made.
I understand the impulse to go gritty with Hunger Games. It’s post-apocalyptic, like Children of Men and all the real-world scenes in The Matrix. Katniss lives in District 12, a coal-mining town that reads like a Soviet hellhole. The latter half of the book is one extended action sequence — sound like it demands the extreme-close-up/shaky-cam tension of a Bourne film, right?
Wrong. Reading Hunger Games, you’re struck by just how vivid and alive the forest is. It’s Katniss’ escape from drudgery, the one place she can really feel alive. Listen to her describe the valley outside of District 12: “teeming with summer life, greens to gather, roots to dig, fish iridescent in the sunlight.” That’s sounds more like the Technicolor-organic wilderness of Avatar than the dark, shadowy woods of Twilight. Conversely, the Capitol reads like a fascist version of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek: too bright, too colorful, overpopulated with highly-
0 Comments on EW's Open Letter to Soon-to-be Hunger Games Director, Gary Ross as of 1/1/1900
Oh, man....are you in for a treat! I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore is the quintacenstial teen sci-fi hit of 2010. I know I'm not known for my analysis of literary classics, but my mantra is that "reading should be fun." Yes, a very complicated and deep mantra, but I'm not a big believer in only reading crap that is written for book snobs. I like to be entertained when I read, and this book definitely fits the bill for entertainment value! From what I've read about the book, it was totally written just so they could make an interesting movie about it, but whoever they hired to write the book was a great writer. No lie. Usually ghost writers for big-budget books or celebrity-written novels seem to blow (Hello, L.A. Candy?), but the fictional Pittacus Lore is worth the money Disney paid him or her to write the novel. I totally bought in the the marketing scheme...count me in for the next in the series, please!
So how did I get hooked on this pop-culture series? Every month, I copy the book review section from Justine Magazine (our school library has a subscription to this publication). If you aren't familiar with their SPARK book club, then you need to be. This magazine reviews teen fiction on a monthly basis and it usually has reviews written by teen readers. We like to read these book reviews because they really do "SPARK" interest in books. I have my students circle and discuss the top two books off of the reviews that they would like to read most. If I have enough money left in my class budget, I buy the books they voted as the most interesting. I usually can't keep these books on my shelves for the duration of the year. However, after my classes read the review page that containedI am Number Four and voted that book (as well as The Body Finder) as a book they would like to read, I discovered I didn't have enough school funds to buy the book. Books are to me what shoes are to other women: I can't say no to a good pair. I bought both books the other day and devoured I am Number Four in two days.
Nine Lorien children were sent to planet Earth in the midst of a full-scale attack by the evil and Mogadarian race. They plan to strip Lorien of it's natural resources and wipe out the Lorien population in the process. The plan is for the Lorien children to hide out on Earth, and wait for their Legacies (or superhuman talents) to grow and develop so they can come together to fight the Mogadarians for control of their homeland. A special Lorien charm protects the children when they arrive on Earth. Each is numbered, and each must live seperately from the other nine with their protector, or Cepan, or the charm will not work. The only way the Mogadarian can kill the Lorien teens is in the order that they were numbered. The nine children live in hiding on Earth, but the Mogadarians have discovered that they are on our planet and begin hunting them one by one. The first three are dead. Our narrator is number four. He knows that he is next and he also is aware that the Mogadarians have other reasons for being on Earth besides just hunting down the Lorien teens. Can the remaining six Loriens develop their Legacies and fight the Mogadarians before Earth as we know it is lost
0 Comments on I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore as of 11/6/2010 10:37:00 AM
Kate Cary's contribution to the teen vampire phenomenon with her novel, Bloodline, will leave readers with a true definition of what an evil vampire should be, and they definitely do not sparkle in Cary's adaptation! As a sort of sequel to Bram Stoker's Dracula, Cary tells a majority of the Bloodline tale through the journal of John Shaw. Recovering from wounds sustained in World War I, Shaw has vivid flashbacks and nightmares of his time in the trenches. The horrors he witnessed are not only from enemies encountered on the battlefield. A majority of his shocking visions are memories of watching his commanding officer, Quincy Harker perform superhuman, impossible feats and although John blames his memories on the side effects of trench fever, he's almost certain that he witnessed Harker drink the blood of their battle enemies. John doesn't want to face the evil truth behind his commanding officer's abilities, but when Quincey Harker shows up to check on John in his England hospital, John must question who his commanding officer truly is. Harker also begins to show interest in John's younger sister, Lucy, and this recent infatuation which makes knowing the truth of Harker's origins all the more imperative to John. He begins researching Harker's bloodline, and makes chilling discoveries about the war hero and himself.
Fans of Bram Stoker's classic will love the writing style of Kate Cary. She mimics the era of writing that encompassed the Gothic literature movement in the late 1800s. Telling the story through the journal entries and letters of different characters was also interesting, but at times kept the story from flowing as easy as it would have if the novel was told from third person POV, and interspersed with journal entries.
Descriptions of the vampire castle and the Transylvania vamps were truly chilling. Cary is a master of imagery when it came to her descriptions of the castle and the dark, shadowy chambers of the castle. I found myself unable to read this novel at night, for fear of Mina, Quincey, and the other vampires watching me from the shadows! There were a few scenes that intertwined blood lust and actual sexual desire that may be too much for teen readers. I would definitely say that grades 8-12 should be the target age-rage for this novel. Any younger might find the scenes from World War I and the Transylvania castle too graphic and gory. Teen vampire enthusiasts also need to take heed: Quincey Harker is NOT Edward Cullen's long-lost cousin. The Harker vampires embrace evil, blood lust, and find human life worthless.This chilling read will definitely leave you searching for the sequel, Bloodline Book Two: R
0 Comments on Bloodline by Kate Cary as of 11/6/2010 10:37:00 AM
Oops! We did it again...My fellow 8th grade Reading teacher and I dressed up as Katniss for "Twin Day" during our Red Ribbon Week festivities. Other than a few students asking if we were Pocahontas, it was a huge success!
It's been a LONG time since I've posted, but teaching seems to hinder my ability to blog on a regular basis. (Curse you, real world!) Teaching is what actually leads me to this post - my students' amazing work on our recent Hunger Games projects. I usually wait to teach the novel at the end of the year, but decided that it would be best to have my students excited about reading at the BEGINNING of the year. A no brainer, right? Shifting my curriculum around just might be the best thing I've done in terms of doing what is best for my students. We finished the novel this week and MANY have already consumed Catching Fire and are halfway through Mockingjay. Thank you, Suzanne Collins for enabling my students to find pleasure in reading. Who woulda thunk it? I love seeing my 8th graders grappling for books and begging to borrow copies of my novels. It's like they've just discovered how pleasurable reading can be and are making up for lost time. Moments like these are what make teaching such a blessing!
I couldn't ruin their excitement for the novel and tarnishing this pleasurable experience with a stale, pointless, multiple choice test. Last year we created HUNGER GAMES FAN T-Shirtsas part of our final exam (which we will do again before our Hunger Games Arena Competition, but that is another post). This year students could work in a group (no larger than four members) and choose from the following options:
1. Gadgets of the Capitol - Many gizmos and gadgets are referred to in the pages of The Hunger Games. Select one or many of the gadgets you found interesting or worthy of further exploration. Create a commercial or advertisement for the gadget in which you give a description and function of the item.
***I had three funny, creative, and down-right exceptional commercials submitted by students for this area of study. A group used the box that Katniss places her hand on to dry and part her hair. Using a wig, they cut from a boy with wet hair placing his hand on the box, to the same boy with a ridiculous wig on his head. "The Helping Hand Hair Genie" was a fabulous commercial! I will post it when (and if) I can obtain parent permission...it's too amazing not to share!
2.Cinna's Creations - Cinn
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Do ya'll remember when I dressed as Katniss last April to introduce The Hunger Games to my class? My husband told me those pictures I posted would come back one day to haunt me...
He was RIGHT! HA! One of my students told me yesterday, "Hey, Mrs. Hart, I saw you on a Hunger Games blog this weekend!" It made me kind of nervous; not knowing for sure what the internet site the kid was talking about (Hey, now! Get your mind out of the gutter...that's not why I was nervous!). After finding the link, I thought it was pretty cool that my Katniss costume from last year made it onto a Hunger Games fan blog. Myhungergames.comis a pretty cool fan site for the series if you haven't checked it out already! Above, you will find my picture featured in a post covering Hunger Games Halloween costume ideas (Uh..I'm the one on the right. I refuse to dress like Effie! Ha!). Happy Hunger Games!
In my quest to purchase individual titles for my classroom library, author Jennifer Donnelly's ANorthern Light kept popping up as a recommendation. Winner of The Carnegie Medal, Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and A Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book, 'A Northern Light' needn't earn my seal of approval to be deemed a worthy teen read, yet I was eager to put my two cents in to the pot! I love turn-of-the-century novels and devoured the book in the car ride to and from Dallas.
After the death of her mother, Mattie, the eldest Gokey daughter is expected to help her father run the family farm. Not an easy task in itself, never mind the three younger sisters she must also tend to and manage. Burdened with the workload of the farm and her family, Mattie's dream of going to college in New York City at Barnard College seems impossible. That is, until her charismatic and feminist teacher Miss Wilcox enables Mattie to land a full scholarship by submitting Mattie's short stories to the college admissions board. However, Mattie still refuses to believe that obtaining her dream is possible, especially when at every turn someone is telling her that women do not belong in college and that an education is worthless and a waste of resources and precious time.
"It's not pride I'm feeling. It's another sin. Worse than all the other ones, which are immediate, violent and hot. This one sits inside you quietly and eats you from the inside out like the trichina worms the pigs get. It's the Eight Deadly Sin. The one God left out. Hope."
Eager to earn money for college and to help her family's struggling farm, Mattie takes a summer
job at the Glenmore - where she meets hotel guest Grace Brown, whose only interaction with Mattie is to ask her to burn a bundle of letters to her lover. After Grace's lifeless body is fished from the waters surrounding the Glenmore, Mattie hesitantly begins reading the letters that not only foreshadow Grace's demise, but oddly parallel the taxing life decisions Mattie is refusing to face.
Jennifer Donnelly and her gift for character development is remarkable. Even characters that only exist in Mattie Gokey's memories are exquisite. In her longing for her mother who died of breast cancer only a year before, was so easy for me (or anyone who has endured the hell that is cancer) to identify with Mattie's pain and suffering.
“I remembered her singing as she cooked. And standing downstairs in the root cellar in November, smiling at all the food she'd put up. I remember how she made us fancy braided hairdos and how she trudged through the winter fields on snowshoes to bring Emmie Hubbard's kids a pot of stew. I tried very hard to remember only the good things about my mama. To remember her the way she was before she got sick. I wished I could cut the rest out of me the way the doctor tried to cut the cancer out of her, but I couldn't. No matter how hard I struggled to keep my last images of her at bay, they came anyway."
Mattie's memories of her mother and the warmth that her house once shared are palatable...I feel as if I know Mattie's mother, and her father is just as well-developed. Her sisters, friends, uncles, teacher, neighbors - each are critical pieces to the development of the plot and are so rich and dimensional, I would readily a novel written from the perspectives of each. The murder-mystery surrounding Grace Brown is actually the least interesting sub-plot binding this novel together; this statement is m
0 Comments on 'A Northern Light' by Jennifer Donnelly as of 1/1/1900
If you've frequented my blog, you know that all things concerning The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins dominates most of my posts. I can't help it. I LOVE the book and series, and I'm estatic that I can teach the novel to my junior high students! Today in class we were discussing Katniss and her character traits, and I off-handedly mentioned that she was my favorite female character in teen fiction. My students didn't miss a beat and decided to turn the tables on their teacher, asking, "What makes Katniss your favorite?" Here's a David Letterman-style top ten list detailing why Miss Everdeen is beating out her teen ficiton counterparts for Top Teen Heroine (in my mind):
*drumroll, please...............*
10. She's a bad Mamma-Jamma. Do you want to mess with a chick who can shoot a squirrel through its eye from fifty meters away? I think not.
9. She can sleep in a tree. Who can do that? Seriously?
8. Raw rabbit meat and pine bark: it's whats for dinner!
7. She is literally "The Girl on Fire".
6. Boys do not define her - they fight over her! (And...they are HOT BOYS...who bake...and kill things. ;)
5. Haymitch is her homeboy.
4. She refrains from punching Effie in the face throughout the duration of the trilogy.
3. Pig. Apple. Arrow. 'Nuff said!
2. Peeta loves her. I love what Peeta loves!
1. She could kick the snot out of Bella Swan. (We know I love Twilight, but you have to admit, Bella is one whiney chick!)
Picture by graysee at deviantart.com
1 Comments on Katniss Everdeen: Leading Lady in Teen Fiction, last added: 9/21/2010
It's very egotistical of me to think that, but it could happen...right? After coming across this article in Entertainment Weekly, I was pleasantly surprised to find many of the actors and actresses that we've been discussing (errrr, DEBATING! ) gracing the pages of my favorite magazine. For a chance to vote on your pick, click on the picture below. The article is VERY interesting for those of you who are as invested in this series as much as I am!
According to Entertainment Weekly, here are their top contenders for the main roles in the flilm...
~KATNISS~
WINNER! Kaya Scodelario (39% of the vote) Best Known For: Britain's Skins, Clash of the Titans
RUNNER-UP Alexandra Daddario (19%) Best known for: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
~PEETA~
WINNER! Hunter Parrish (40%)
Best Known For: Weeds
RUNNER-UP
Alex Pettyfer (22%)
Best Known For: 2011's Beastly
~GALE~
WINNER! Gaspard Ulliel (40%) Best Known For: playing the young Hannibal Lector in Hannibal Rising
1 Comments on "YOU Cast THE HUNGER GAMES"...Does E.W. Read My Blog?, last added: 9/12/2010
Kristen Chenoweth for Effie! She would be perfect! I am not sure I was picturing those two for Haymitch, but I vote Robert Downey, Jr over Hugh Laurie.
The events from the morning of Tuesday, September 7th will be forever seared into my memory. No, a relative didn't die and I didn't win any money. Babies weren't born and promotions weren't given. You would think that a memorable morning would consist of one of these life-changing events, but my memorable morning consisted of me MISSING ROBERT PATTINSON ON MY FREAKIN' DOORSTEP. Okay, so I'm dipping into my hyperbole pool, but I did practically miss the only chance I will ever have to see The Precious in the flesh. Let me break down this soul-crushing morning for you:
1. I wake up on Tuesday morning at 6:00am, ready to start back to work after a long weekend. Boo.
2. Pour myself a cup of joe and play with my phone while I wait for the sweet nectar that is my morning cup to take effect.
3. I quickly see that blasted red bubble alerting me to the fact that I have 800 missed calls and 1000 missed texts...okay, more exaggeration, but I had a crap-ton of ignored calls and texts.
4. Assuming that either A.) a loved one has died, or B.) I've forgotten to do or be somewhere really important. I click on my missed texts first.
5. Text from my friend that reads: "Um. Robert Pattinson is here. Like, HERE. IN LUBBOCK. RIGHT NOW. ANSWER YOUR DAMN PHONE. HERE. IN. LUBBOCK. CALL ME!"
6. I nearly drop my cup of coffee in the process of scrambling to read the rest of my texts and listen to my voicemails - and (to my horror) all confirm the first text. I still didn't believe it.
7. Thinking that my friends have a sick and twisted sense of humor, I do what any of us would do in this situation and get on Facebook to check the validity of said texts/voicemails.
8. I find more pleas and entreaties for me to get out of bed and get my ass to Crickets Bar & Grill, a college sports bar near Texas Tech University across town...AS IN THE TOWN WHERE I CURRENTLY RESIDE.
9. I then find these pictures taken by my friend's camera phone and other phones in the vicinity:
This first picture I see is so grainy, I almost breathe a sigh of relief. It can't be RPatz. It's more likely Jesus enjoying a beer in a Lubbock bar, than the likes of Robert Pattinson, right? At least that's what I continued to tell myself until I saw these beautiful images...
4 Comments on Robert Pattinson in Lubbock, TX...and I Missed It, last added: 9/12/2010
You are really funny and should seriously consider writing a book. Rob is in Houston where I live and I can't find him. I am happy I found your blog. It is really a good read!
Hi Lenzi, I am a huge RP fan as well and I really feel for you! The ringer turned off GAH! I like your attitude though and i wish Oprah had surprised you with a Rob by her side. I live in Australia so there is little chance I'll ever see that precious man in my home town. My sister missed him in Japan by a day at an official autograph signing session. She's never gotten over it! :)
Oh no! I am a huge RP fan also, your ringer turned off GAH! I like your attitude though and really wish Oprah had been there to surprise you with Rob by her side:) My sister missed him at an official autograph signing session in Japan by a day, she's never gotten over it! I live in Australia so I don't think the precious man will ever be drinking in my home town. I like that your hubby understood, mine is similarly patient about my Rob love :)
@ anonymous - Thank you! I'm attempting to write a book, but it's been a work in progress for nearly three years now! Maybe one day I will finish! @ nightowl - don't write RPatz off just yet...he might show up in Australia! We never thought he'd visit the likes of Lubbock, TX, so keep the faith! I don't know how often you drink, but I think running in to him will require frequent trips to the bar on random nights. Good luck! Ha!
The USA Today reported on Wednesday that there is a bit of buzz surrounding the Lionsgate casting of KatnissEverdeen for The Hunger Games movie. Apparently, actress Chloe Moretzis said to be on the top of a very short list for nabbing the role of the tough heroine. Who is Chloe Moretz, you may ask? Her most recent works include Kick-Ass and Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Chloe is only 13 years old, and in my humble opinion, looks more like Prim than Katniss, if we are going on looks alone, which I know shouldn't be what gets her the job - looks. I do know for a fact that her acting skills are noteworthy, and Perri Nemiroff gives her a huge thumbs up for the part in his article, "Daring to Dream: Casting 'The Hunger Games' Movie". He makes some great suggestions for our beloved character's parts. Check out his article for more!
If this movie sucks because they can't hold casting auditions and hire an actress that fits the physical traits of the character and can actually act, then I don't want them to even bother with production. (And if I hear Kristen Stewart's name mentioned for this role one more time, I just might hurl. She is NOT Katniss and I don't think anything Twilight-related should be thrust upon this stand-alone series. This article describing the brew-haha around casting/making The Hunger Games movie even goes as far to call THGThe Next Twilight. Ugh. Although a great article and interview with producer Nina Jacobson, enough with the Twilight comparisons!) Do your homework, Lionsgate and GET THIS RIGHT. So... just in case the casting directors of The Hunger Games need a bit of help, let me give them a slew of character traits mentioned in the book. In fact, take out a sheet of paper, directors, and let's make a t-chart for our lovely Ms. Everdeen, shall we? (We do this in my classroom while studying the novel, and it will serve as a valuable exercise for you, too, my dear casting directors.)Notice I even provide you with page numbers to
0 Comments on Lionsgate and the Katniss Question as of 1/1/1900
My students favorite phrase to say that they think will get them out of work in my classroom is, "But I already read that!" For some reason, students think that it is taboo to reread a novel or short story. Why? Don't we watch our favorite movies over and over again? Do we listen to songs we like the first time around a few more times? OF COURSE! You can derive the same pleasure from rereading a favorite book! (Don't tell anyone, but I've reread the entire Twilight series at least five times. I KNOW!) It's starting to be the same way with Suzanne Collins's addicting series. I teach the first book, so I hear the same chapters repeated six times a day, but IT NEVER GETS OLD! When Katniss is running from the Cornicopia for the first time, my heart quickens and my palms sweat...even if I'd just read that scene to my students the period before!
That brings me to rereading the second book, Catching Fire. When I was first able to lay hands on it, I DEVOURED it. I had to know what would happen to the characters I had come to know and love. When I devour a book, I tend to skip over stuff. My eyes skim the lines with anticipation, and I end up missing out on little details. I'm only through the first two chapters and I'm noticing all kinds of stuff I didn't the first go around. Has anyone else had this experience? I'm planning on chronicling my eye-opening discoveries in a post I'll publish the day before Mockingjay is released! Any tidbits you guys would like to alert me to while I'm rereading? Feel free to leave me a comment!
Totally off the subject, but check out this pic of actress, Kaya Scodelario I found on the Twilightlexicon blog. They were discussing who should play Katniss (aren't all of us?), and a fan recommended her. Add some tan-in-a-can, and I think she looks PERFECT if we are judging by looks alone.
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I will admit that my love of all things Robert Pattinson is what enticed me to read this novel that I've skimmed over, but never purchased . After seeing a few screen shots of the movie that is currently in production, I decided I wanted to know more about Rob's character, Jacob Jankowski. He's uber hot in these pics. Can you blame me? There are so many more fabulous pictures @ http://waterforelephantsfilm.com/Oh, my. Suspenders never looked so good!
Reading the book with the mental images of Rob as Jacob might have made the book better for me than if I'd read it before movie production began. Call me shallow and a petty, but I thoroughly enjoyed the entire novel because of Rob and let's not forget the fabulous writing of Sara Gruen. I can't imagine the effort and research it took to know so much about the Depression era circus business. Gruen creates a seamless world of circus life that was engrossing and real. I'm hoping the movie can recreate the amazing imagery Gruen supplied producers with, and from looking at the movie stills, I'm seeing that they may be on the right track. I also love the juxtaposition of narration between old Jacob and young Jacob. It reminds me of The Notebook, but with less Alzheimer's and more elephants.
Gruen begins the novel with a 90 year old (or 93 year old....he's not quiet sure. What do a few years matter when he's already this old, he wanders?) Jacob. He's lonely and stuck in a nursing home, with ample time to reflect upon his life. The arrival of a traveling circus in the adjacent lot next to his nursing home stirs memories of his young-adult life. Jacob begins the long and mysterious track down memory lane, and his involvement with a traveling circus in the 1930s....
Jacob Jankowski is days away from completing his degree in veterinary medicine at Cornell University when he receives heartbreaking news about his parents. This news rattles him to the core, and sends him in a tailspin that leads him to the moving train of the Benzini Brothers Circus. Hoping aboard the train with only the clothes on his back, Jacob leaves behind everything and everyone he has ever known. His almost-degree in veterinary medicine makes him a perfect candidate to care for the rare and exotic animals on the tour, yet also separates him from the other working-class men he is surrounded by.
Immediately enamored by the beautiful and talented horse trainer and performer, Marlena, Jacob decides to stay on with the circus. Never mind that Marlena is married to the paranoid schizophrenic animal trainer, August. A man who immediately identifies Jacob as a threat, and has no qualms about getting rid of the new vet.
The gritty, often terrifying world of the Benzini Brothers Circus is the most unique and rare settings of any novel I've read this year. Water for Elephants is a brilliant novel, and will hopefully be complemented by an equally spectacular movie!
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Nina is an American born Pakistani-Muslim girl doing her best to fit in to her suburban town. Never mind the fact that she was born and raised in Deer Hook, her ethnicity and religion separate her from her predominately white friends. Nina is a hysterical narrator, who keeps the reader thoroughly entertained with her humorous outlook on her situation. Any teenager could relate to her plight and perhaps find humor in their own situation after reading Skunk Girl. An entertaining addition to my teen fiction collection!
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I love reading books that make me angry. It's either this side effect or the other that makes a book golden in my eyes: angry vs. blissfully happy. Great books stir emotions in their reader, and The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams did that for me. I read with rapt attention and disgust. Yes, disgust. Read the rest of my review to understand why...
Thirteen year old Kyra lives a quiet, simple life with her 19 brothers and sisters, her father, and his three wives. (Yes. She is one of 19...and I thought I got the short end of the stick being the middle child of three girls. No complaints here!) As a member of the polygamist cult, The Chosen Ones, Kyra lives in isolation with her people; only learning about the outside world through the books she sneaks into the compound from the nearest town's mobile library. (She likes to go for walks around the dirt roads surrounding the compound, and happens to encounter the County Mobile Library on one of her walks. She sneaks the books into the compound in her dress to read at night.) Reading these forbidden books has planted seeds of doubt in Kyra's mind about the preachings of Prophet Childs - the iron-fisted leader of The Chosen Ones, who claims to have a direct line of communication with Jesus himself. Prophet Childs has forbidden books and travel to the nearby town, warning the cult members that only the devil and his evil can be found outside the chainlink fences of the compound.
Kyra shares the secret of her books with another compound teen, Joshua. Through their secret meetings and discussion of books they become much more than friends and develop feelings for each other that also break the boundaries established by Prophet Childs. When the Prophet proclaims that he had a vision of Kyra marrying her 60 year old uncle, Hyrum, Kyra's world is tossed asunder. Is the world she lives within her books and in secret meetings with Joshua the right path to follow? Should she risk it all (and the possible safety of the family she loves dearly) to avoid marrying her cruel and aged uncle? Did I mention Uncle Hyrum is 60 and Kyra is 13. THIRTEEN! Yuck.
I read this novel in the span of two evenings - biting my fingernails and holding my breath with every turn of the page. I've always been curious about the lifestyle one must lead to be a part of a polygamist community, but I never really ventured what it must be like for the children who are brought up to know nothing but this lifestyle. I love how Williams uses books as Kyra's escape from the Compound. The view they give her of the outside world is what opens the window in Kyra's mind that her way of life might not be the only way to find fufillment and rightousness. This novel is by far and away one of the best teen reads of the summer!
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Teen fiction is my profession (I teach 8th grade Reading), so I make it part of my job to read as much of it as I can. Thanks to my blog follower, Ashley, I've made a list of teen fiction reads that you must get your hands on this year! This list is pretty diverse and spans many different time periods and styles of writing. If you click on the picture, it will take you to a full review of the novel. I couldn't rank these in a "top ten list", because so many of them are equal stand outs in my mind. Read them and decide for yourself which is your favorite! Enjoy!
I've been waiting for this book, ever since I read the last page of Maggie Stiefvater's first novel in this series, Shiver. Teen fiction is saturated with crap at the moment, and Stiefvater's elegant writing and style are a much-needed respite from the junk! Although the tale centers around the trials and tribulations of life as a werewolf, don't bother to make comparisons to that other popular series with buff guys shedding their skins for wolf pelts. (What was the name of that series again??? ;) In Shiver, we were introduced to Grace Brisbane; a responsible, attractive and lonely teenage girl. Her parents are flightly ding-bats who seem to forget they have a daughter - often coming home at odd hours of the night and often leaving her to take care of herself. Her parents lackadaisical attitude toward caring for Grace is what set the chain of events in motion to tie her to the pack of Mercy Falls wolves that roamed freely in the forests behind her home. Grace was pulled from her tire swing and attacked by a pack of wolves when she was younger, only to be seemingly saved by wolf with mesmerizing yellow eyes. Grace finds an injured Sam in these same forests who also possesses the same yellow eyes as her wolf. As Sam and Grace's relationship develops, Grace is introduced to a world she didn't know existed in her own backyard; humans shifting in to wolves each time the seasons change to cooler weather. Most of Shiver is spent trying to find a way to keep Sam human, and to stop him from shifting in to a werewolf so he and Grace can be together. The two also wonder and theorize why Grace's bites from her previous wolf attack never caused her to shift. Sam's heartbreaking past and the mysteries surrounding the origin of the wolves is also explored and further explained in LINGER.
LINGER continues the love story of Grace and Sam, who are still uncertain if the "cure" they found for Sam will actually stick. Although Sam is seemingly comfortable in his human form, and finally embracing the possibility of a long future with Grace, it is Grace who is beginning to feel changes bubbling beneath the surface of her human skin. Will Sam's cure be forever? Who are the new wolves, and what will their presence mean to the future of the pack? These LINGERing questions are what shape the second novel and make it a sequel as equally enthralling as its predecessor.
Stiefvater's talent for story telling is just as mesmerizing in LINGER as it was in SHIVER.
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Tired of vampires? They ARE everywhere, but give Cronin's The Passage a shot before you say you've read enough about blood suckers! The plot is complex, and I'm lazy, so here's the synopsis from Publisher's Weekly:
Fans of vampire fiction who are bored by the endless hordes of sensitive, misunderstood Byronesque bloodsuckers will revel in Cronin’s engrossingly horrific account of a post-apocalyptic America overrun by the gruesome reality behind the wish-fulfillment fantasies. When a secret project to create a super-soldier backfires, a virus leads to a plague of vampiric revenants that wipes out most of the population. One of the few bands of survivors is the Colony, a FEMA-established island of safety bunkered behind massive banks of lights that repel the “virals,” or “dracs”--but a small group realizes that the aging technological defenses will soon fail. When members of the Colony find a young girl, Amy, living outside their enclave, they realize that Amy shares the virals’ agelessness, but not the virals’ mindless hunger, and they embark on a search to find answers to her condition. PEN/Hemingway Award--winner Cronin (The Summer Guest) uses a number of tropes that may be overly familiar to genre fans, but he manages to engage the reader with a sweeping epic style. The first of a proposed trilogy, it’s already under development by director Ripley Scott and the subject of much publicity buzz (Retail Nation, Mar. 15). (June)
It's a hefty read (over 750 pages and set at 10pt font!), but man, it was a riveting novel! The virals reminded me of the creepy antogonists of the Will Smith movie, I am Legend, and I found myself unable to go outside at night for fear of being ripped open from mouth to crotch. Scary stuff, The Passage! These infected humans of Cronin's tale do not sparkle and are not the stuff of romance novels. I love dystopian fiction...take The Forrest of Hands and Teeth, mix it with Stephen King's The Stand, and you have a tiny taste of what The Passage holds for you! I can't wait to see what Cronin does with the second and third books in this trilogy. There's also talk of a movie already in the works for The Passage, so no, folks, vampires (of all shapes, sizes and temperments) are here to stay! Yikes!
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Teen fiction is one of the few genres turning a profit in the publishing world. How shocking that many "adult" fiction authors are now penning teen fiction! Candace Bushnell, one of the founding fathers (er, mothers?) of the chick lit movement, and author of the popular Sex and the City novels, has recently released the first installment in her new teen series The Carrie Diaries. Based on the the teen years of her Sex and the City heroine, Carrie Bradshaw, the Carrie Diaries gives us a glimpse in to the awkward pubescent days of Miss B. Even though I wouldn't say the Carrie Diaries is as good as the SATC novels, it is a great start to what I'm sure is to be an even better sequel....that is, if there is a sequel, which there better be!
The novel is set in the early 70s, a time period ingenious to my mother's generation, and a decade I know relatively little about, other than the stories my mother and father have shared about their high school days. Come to think of it, my mom would probably love this book. I'm sure many of the pop culture references and clothing labels were lost on me, but I bet my mom could easily relate. Absent are the cell phones, computers, and fast-paced existence most teenagers are accustomed to today. Teens in Carrie's world take smoke breaks in between classes (the teachers are probably too busy enjoying a smoke to notice the teens puffing away in the bathroom), hang out at burger joints, and drive around in their old, clunker cars for fun. Although Carrie's boredom with small town living is palpable (the reader is bored right along with her for some of the scenes), this boredom is necessary for you to feel her anxiousness to make something more of her life. You can practically FEEL her restlessness to leave the safety of her tiny town and you find yourself cheering her on when she shares her dreams of becoming a writer in New York...a dream her family and friends just don't quite understand.
Carrie is beginning her Senior year at Castlebury High, located in a small, upper-middle class town in Connecticut. Even though Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda are no where to be found (she's yet to meet them, you see), you can easily identify with her group of life-long girlfriends, Lali, Maggie and The Mouse, or Roberta if you're calling her by her God-given name. There's also the new guy that enters onto the scene; Sebastian Kidd. Hot, rebellious, and of course, the guy Carrie can't get off her mind. Bushnell does a fabulous job transporting the reader back to high school. Even though you know Carrie shouldn't be so self-conscious and stupid about her decisions concerning boys, she acts just like most of us gals did in high school. These self-deprecating moments are what she will grow and learn from in the SATC books. We can see the strong and successful woman Carrie will become, learning and growing in the Carrie Diaries. I seriously hope that Bushnell is considering continuing the series. I can't wait to see how Carrie struggles in New York, and it will be fun to live vicariously through her first days as a new writer. If you are looking for an honest, funny and endearing coming-of-age story about one of chick lit's favorite characters, then The Carrie Diaries will be an entertaining journey down memory lane. No zit cream required. :)
Then join our Facebook fan page! Go to this link: ECLIPSE GROUP REREAD. If you will "LIKE" the page or subscribe to the page's "Notes" you can receive instant update for each chapter I post. I also have discussion questions at the end of each post I would like your input on, and would appreciate your feedback. You don't have to actually reread each chapter. We just want you discussing your opinions about the book! This also gives us something to do before the big premiere on June 30th! So join our page and DISCUSS burning questions about your favorite (or at least it's my favorite) book in the Twilight Saga! Here is a sample of some of our recent "discussions" over Chapter 1 & 2 of the novel:
Chapter 1 & 2 Discussion Questions
1. Did you like Jacob before New Moon? Did your feelings for him change after the movie?
2. Were you ever "boyfriend obsessed" like Bella? I know you probably didn't have a bf that had a "face any male model would sale his soul" for, but did you at least obsessively spend too much time with your guy/gal?
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This video compiles most of the Eclipse clips (say that five times!), and it is GREAT! I hadn't seen a few of these, so it's quite a treat for those of us hungering for June 30th to hurry up and get here! I think this movie will ROCK! Go to this website to see a high-quality version of the video below:
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Notice I even provide you with page numbers to
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Congratulations! Your Hunger Games program looks fantastic!
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