Librarians Hope to Build Readers on 'Hunger Games' Excitement
RSSBy Lauren Barack
"Kids are visual learners and that's in my mind what a movie does," says Angie Johnson, a library media specialist at the Lakeshore Middle School in Stevensville, MI. The film version "validates a book and validates the reading experience for kids. 'Harry Potter' is a great example. I saw an entire generation of kids inspired to read from that series." Seventh graders at Lakeshore will be reading The Hunger Games (Scholastic, 2008)—along with 14 other books—to compete on March 2 and see who best knows the books. Winning teams will receive tickets to the local movie theater the day the movie opens March 23. At the Clarion (PA) Free Library, young adult librarian Melissa McCleary is counting on games to bring teens and tweens into the branch on March 22, the Thursday before the movie premieres. Kids will play The Hunger Games board game, and then watch trailers of the movie to try to connect the filmed scenes to those in the book. "They love to watch the trailers and get very excited," says McCleary of her teen patrons. Selling more than 26 million copies in the U.S. alone, "The Hunger Games" trilogy has grown into a hugely popular series, attracting readers far outside those who normally read young adult titles. The movie has generated buzz ever since production started last year, and fan groups online are counting the days until heroine Katniss Everdeen launches her first arrow on the silver screen. At the end of the month, kids will run discussion groups in the library during the school day, with parents invited to their own book groups in the evening, and students will be allowed to dress in camouflage like the books' tributes for the last day, Feb 24. To keep the excitement brewing, students are also whipping up recipes from The Unofficial Hunger Games Cookbook (Adams Media, 2011), plus answering daily trivia questions sent to their student email addresses, with winners earning tickets to the movie on the day it opens. Nardelli says the school is trying to rent the entire theater at the United Artist King of Prussia Stadium 16, and hoping to work out an arrangement for a screening—a popular prize for students eager to see their favorite characters spring to life. "We're still working out the details," says Nardelli of renting the theater. "They won't give us any discounts, but we're trying." This article originally appeared in the newsletter Extra Helping. Go here to subscribe. I like the read-aloud idea. Perhaps I should get my
principal to do that. In the meantime, I'm having my own
Hunger Games contest for the school:
http://bit.ly/behshungergames
It is so cool to see everyone getting so excited about a
book. i likr this idea i *like this idea I Love The Hunger Games and I Love Katniss Everdeen and I just cannot wait to see the movie! * = Required information
February 21, 2012
Librarians looking to capitalize on the excitement of the film premiere of The Hunger Games next month are using everything from schoolwide read-ins to quiz bowls, to lure kids to read.
Count the entire student body and staff at Upper Merion Area High School in King of Prussia, PA, among those fans. Every day for 15 minutes, the principal gets on the loudspeaker, and everyone in the school pulls out their Nook, Kindle, laptop, or paperback copy to read The Hunger Games—including the custodian, says high school librarian Sharon Nardelli. "They can't stop reading it," she says. "Kids who never wanted to read are reading like crazy."
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