As I wrote about here, I loved The Hunger Games , albeit with some mixed feelings about killing off children. While the sequel spends some time recapping the previous Hunger Games and on Katniss and Peeta's "Victory Tour," the action quickly picks up. It's no big surprise that major characters will get killed, but Suzanne Collins manages to keep the violence from feeling too exploitive or indulgent. It's a shame that she and Stieg Larsson didn't have a chat.
What makes Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) ripe for discussion between children and parents are the themes of rebellion, free will and balancing your own individual wishes against what's best for the people you love. For a book set in a post-apocalyptic world where people are beaten and starved, Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) is strangely uplifting. Katniss grows from an angry teenage girl into the woman - and rebellious leader - she is meant to become. If the love triangle between Peeta and Gale feels familiar (as certain fans of vampires and werewolves would argue), it's refreshing that Katniss' attitude through the story is basically, "it's not you, it's me, as I have to go save my family and perhaps the world." Like its predecessor, Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) keeps you flipping the pages anxiously to find out the next twist and turn.
If you are trying to get your teenage son to read, this series is probably a good place to start. And then you can steal his copy and read it yourself.
