Hunger Games lite - The Horn Book

[…] We’ve heard from a few people looking for books for younger readers who are interested in, but not quite ready for, The Hunger Games trilogy. Here are some sci-fi and dystopian fiction suggestions for the pre-teen set (ages 9–11), all recommended by the Magazine. […]

Posted : Apr 18, 2014 04:19

RickJM

I just saw the movie and it wasn't bad. It's not great either but I thought that there was more to like than dislike. The characters are 'stock' but the series was started in the ealy 90's when 'stock' characters were not as noticable. Also, being a product the 90's, there are a lot of things that today look like common tropes or cliches. The story takes a while to get going but there are some semi-instense scenes. For the most part, the actors are pretty likable and the acting is just fine. I think one thing to remember is that this was made in Australia so I'm sure the budget wasn't that big. If this had 80 million like THG, I'm sure it would have been better. But all-in-all, I thought the production values were pretty good. I'm not sure if it's worth 5$ on PPV but if you have a Redbox or something like that near by, I could think of worse ways to spend $1.50

Posted : Apr 08, 2012 05:02

Elissa

Here is one of our sisters' take on the issue: http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2012/03/k-12/why-im-taking-my-fourth-grader-to-see-the-hunger-games/#comments

Posted : Mar 26, 2012 04:27

Katie Bircher

Here are a few sci-fi/dystopian fiction suggestions for ages 9-11. :)

Posted : Mar 22, 2012 05:46

Jennifer Wharton

Ha! This happens every time there's a huge marketing blitz for a teen book - I've had 10 year olds who wanted to read Twilight, Jodi Picoult, etc. etc. and parents who were totally at their wits' end, wanting them to wait (or not read them at all). So I have younger read-alike lists to help me and the other staff. Of course, no one's ever really happy with this compromise - the kids want the actual book every single one of their extremely cool friends are reading and the parents want them to read Little Women and Anne of Green Gables until they're in college. I do have parents ask me if the book is suitable and then I get to be the non-cool librarian who told Mom it wasn't a good book for the 9 year old...

Posted : Mar 22, 2012 02:11

Roger Sutton

"Do you have any books where a bunch of kids play this game where they slaughter each other? Yes, but does it come in a board book?" ;-)

Posted : Mar 22, 2012 02:07

Jennifer Wharton

I was kinda surprised that one of the teachers at our local Catholic school recommended it to a fourth grader. It really is young adult. I've been looking for younger read-alikes (although that doesn't really help with the kids who want to read it because "everyone" is reading it)

Posted : Mar 22, 2012 03:09

Roger Sutton

Why don't you take Josh and let us know?

Posted : Mar 21, 2012 02:37

Elissa

I do wish they could have unearthed one parent who *will* be letting his or her kids see the movie, and not just to appear cool on the playground.

Posted : Mar 21, 2012 02:30

Jennifer Wharton

I dunno about the movie, but Tomorrow the book is a more gritty, realistic look at war and survival than Hunger Games imo. And someone stole our library's copy, so it must be good, right?

Posted : Mar 21, 2012 01:44