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My daughter read the Hunger Games trilogy at 10 years old. My plan was to read it around the same time, but as usual, she raced through and devoured all three books before I could turn the first page. The movie opens Friday, and those of us with children in tow, are wondering: Is it OK for them to see it?

My friend, Chicago Tribune film critic Michael Phillips, said Director Gary Ross “does not pump the action for cheap thrills or opportunities to stoke the audience’s blood lust.”

In other words, the movie will send chills at reasonable temperatures, not unlike the book.

According to Michael, “The film feels dramatically substantial but not inflated. A lot of it – the core of it, really – puts us on the ground, running, in the woods with Katniss, without much in the way of digital effects.”

Librarians and teachers know that seeing a movie made from a beloved book is a great way to make the characters and the plot come alive for young readers, and it creates a very real connection for them to reading, imagery and writing.

I’m letting my daughter, now 11, see the movie, not just because she loved the books almost as much as the Harry Potter series, but because she is inspired, even idolizes, the lead character, Katniss Everdeen, who is a great, strong female role model.

Anybody else going with a kid? Why or why not?

Lionsgate has released another clip from The Hunger Games film adaptation. The clip (embedded above) features Caesar Flickerman (played by Stanley Tucci) and Peeta Mellark (played by Josh Hutcherson).  Most of the original dialogue from the book made it to this scene.

In an interview with MTV, Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence noted: “During filming, I really liked everything what I was seeing. I liked everything that Gary was doing. Then I saw it, and it was all there. It’s always hard for me watching because I think I am a horrible troll and I’ll never work again. Overall, I think everybody else in the movie is fantastic, and I think the film itself is really good.”

The film has also spawned two video games, and author Suzanne Collins consulted on both projects. The Hunger Games Adventures will be available on Facebook; you can sign up to try out the beta version. Hunger Games: Girl on Fire will be available as an iOS (Apple tablet products) game app.

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Lionsgate has released a new clip from The Hunger Games movie featuring the first meeting between Katniss Everdeen and her fashion stylist Cinna (played by musician Lenny Kravitz). The clip is embedded above–what do you think?

Hunger Games book fans will note that this bit of dialogue is not featured in the actual first novel. Fans initially protested the choice, but the clip has drawn 7,000 “likes” on Facebook as of this writing. Entertainment Weekly deemed Kravitz to be “the most intriguing casting choice.”

According to contactmusic.com, Fandango executive VP of ticket sales Rick Butler saw the “biggest first day advance ticket sales in our company’s nearly 12-year history” for The Hunger Games.

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As fangirls prepare to dress up in their Katniss Everdeen costumes for Halloween, a Hunger Games spoof will be published on November 15th.  The video embedded above features the book trailer for The Hunger But Mainly Death Games–what do you think?

Curious readers can access the first chapter on Scribd. Here’s more about the book: “[This is] the only book brave enough to suggest that The Hunger Games was way more about death than food. Or at least this is what Bratniss Everclean discovers, when she shortsightedly volunteers for a teenage death tournament. But she soon realizes there are fates worse than death…like having to kiss her fellow competitor and lifelong stalker, Pita Malarkey.”

On Amazon, “Bratniss Everclean” is listed as the author, but the cover image lists Aaron Geary and John Bailey Owen as the authors.  According to Amazon, Harvard Lampoon will publish another spoof  in 2012, The Hunger Pains.

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Lionsgate has released photos from the set of The Hunger Games adaptation. The photo embedded above shows actors Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth playing Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mallark.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Hutcherson gained fifteen pounds of muscle in three weeks in order to better embody his character’s physique.

Director Gary Ross complimented Hutcherson’s commitment to the role: “On first glance he’s such a hunk that it’s easy to ascribe a hunklike simplicity to him. But this is a phenomenally subtle actor, totally in control of what he was doing.”

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Golden Globe-winner Donald Sutherland (pictured, via) has been cast as President Coriolanus Snow in The Hunger Games film adaptation.

Sutherland has acted in literary adaptations including Pride & Prejudice and The Eagle. He has also played roles in the television adaptations of Ken Follet‘s Pillars of the Earth and Robert Louis Stevenson‘s Treasure Island.

Here’s more about the character from the release: “President Snow has been the autocratic ruler of Panem and its contained districts for some 25 years at the outset of the story. He is cruel and ruthless in his intimidation and control tactics.”

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Grammy award winning musician Lenny Kravitz will play fashion stylist Cinna in The Hunger Games film adaptation.

As an actor, Kravitz (pictured, via) is best known for his portrayal of Nurse John in the 2009 literary adaptation Precious.

Director Gary Ross made this remark about his performance in the press release: “When I saw Lenny’s work in Precious I was just knocked out.  It was quiet and strong and understated and open hearted; all qualities which define this character.”

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On Thursday, May 5, 2011, Pamela Paul of The New York Times wrote an article entitled “New Study Finds Gender Bias in Children’s Books.” Paul sheds the spotlight on the study “Gender in Twentieth-Century Children’s Books: Patterns of Disparity in Titles and Central Characters” published in the April issue of Gender & Society. According to the study “there has been a bias toward male characters — men, boys and, yes, animals — in children’s literature over the last century.”

Janice McCabe, the study’s lead author, examined approximately 6,000 children’s books published from 1900 to 2000. “Of those, 57 percent had a central male character compared with only 31 percent with female protagonists.” In addition, “at most one-third of children’s books published per year included central female characters that are adult women or female animals. But male animals or male adults appeared in 100 percent.”

For those of you who are avid readers of children’s literature, like myself, this is certainly not a revelation. I will be the first to admit that I grew up reading Clifford the Big Red Dog, Curious George and Winnie the Pooh, to name a few. What do they all have in common? Well, a quick survey shows that the protagonists in each are male. This in no way diminishes these books as classics in the canon of children’s literature but it does illustrate that a fundamental disparity exists.

In truth, whether they realize it or not, girls and young women long for female protagonists in the books they read. I know I did. Hermione Granger is one of the many reasons I adore the Harry Potter series. She is a brilliant, courageous and strong young woman. It’s incredibly empowering to have a female character that is not only equal to but also excels beyond her male counterparts. How often can you say that? Unfortunately, not often enough. And that, dear readers, is the problem.

Now more than ever girls and young women need protagonists that speak to them. Protagonists whose characteristics they can emulate. Hermione Granger‘s brilliance. Olivia the Pig‘s feistiness. Katniss Everdeen‘s strength.

The audience is waiting. It’s time to answer the call.