Hunger Games, The - Study Guide

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Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, Great American Read #40, 2008 Cybils Award winner, California Young Reader Medal, Hal Clement Award, Andre Norton Award nominee, Hebrew Geffen Award winner, New York Times Best Seller, NPR’s top 100 teen novels.

A post war-torn dystopian North America has collapsed after a series of apocalyptic events, and Panem, made up of 13 districts and the Capitol, has risen from the ruins.

Almost 75 years ago, the districts rebelled against the oppressive rule of the Capitol, resulting in the total annihilation of District 13 and even tighter control of the remaining 12 districts. It also gave rise to the Hunger Games, an annual event in which one boy and one girl are selected from each district as "tributes" for the Games. (reminiscent of the Greek legend of Theseus & the Minotaur) The 24 tributes are put into an advanced gladiatorial arena, where the children must fight to the death over a number of days as the Games are televised across Panem for the viewing entertainment of the Capitol and as a brutal reminder to the districts of exactly who is in charge.

Enter Katniss Everdeen, who provides for her mother and sister by hunting and gathering with her friend Gale outside the fence that surrounds District 12, a coal mining town in the coal-rich region formerly known as Appalachia. When Katniss' young sister Prim is chosen as a tribute, Katniss volunteers to take her place, to save her sister from certain death. With Peeta, the boy chosen from District 12, Katniss is taken to the Capitol to enter the Hunger Games. Katniss begins to rise as a contender, and people take notice. But can she win when she must choose between her survival and her humanity?

An intense look at self-sacrifice at all costs.

Content Warning: This title is recommended for mature readers!

Through Suzanne Collin’s enthralling and harrowing tale of survival and fighting for what is right in Hunger Games, students will learn:

Author Biography: Learn more about Suzanne Collins.

Before-You-Read Activities: Learn about archery, medicinal and edible wild plants, timeline, gladiatorial fights, Utopias and dystopias.

Vocabulary words used throughout the novel, utilizing a variety of activities to stimulate retention and growth.

Literary Techniques: Flashback, exposition, simile, metaphor, ethnocentrism, dramatic irony, perspective, cliff-hanger, comic relief, syntax, parallelism, repetition, paradox, foreshadowing, synonym, in-context, pacing, juxtaposition, paraphrase, antonyms, theme, dramatic structure, conflict, dynamic vs. static characters, motif, point-of-view.

Moral Lessons and Character Values: Self-sacrifice, forgiveness, self-control, purity of self, do unto others as you would have them do to you, trusting God, killing, fairness, injustice, hope & peace, lying, self-honesty, vanity, Christ-figure, moral foundations of power.

Activities and Writing Assignments:  including mapping, experience poem, reaction paper, self-control discussion, communication & insults, burn treatments, killer bees, injustice, business plan, migrant labor, favorite location, childhood memory, eulogy, legend of minotaur, love, distrust, Roman gladiators, new point of view, WWI treaties, names, medical first aid, defiance.

Suggestions for Further Reading:  We include an in-depth reading list of more books by the same author(s) and other books that tie in with, or are similar to, Hunger Games. Movie suggestions included.

All of the unit lessons are written from a Christian worldview!

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