• Suzanne Collins was born on August 10, 1962. She was the youngest in a family of four. Suzanne’s father was in the U.S. Air Forces who served in the Vietnam War. She was the daughter of a military officer, so her family was moved constantly. Suzanne attended the Alabama School of Fine Arts for high school, and graduated from Indiana University with a double major in Drama and Telecommunications. She began her career in 1991. She started by writing for children’s television shows. She also was the head writer for Scholastic Entertainment. In 2008, Scholastic Press released the book The Hunger Games, the first book of a trilogy. Suzanne was inspired to write this story by the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. Another inspiration came from her Father’s career in the Air Force, which helped her understand poverty, starvation, and the effects of war. Suzanne’s second book, Catching Fire, was released in 2009, and the third book, Mockingjay, in 2010. She lives in Connecticut.

http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com/

• Mockingjay is a book about a 17- year old girl named Katniss Everdeen. She lives in a place called Panem. Panem is divided into 12 districts. She live in district 12. Every district is known for something. District 12 is known for mining. Katniss was in the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games is a very cruel event where one girl and one boy are picked from each district, and they must fight to the death until one is left. Only one comes out alive. The Capital hates her for rebelling against them and so she started a revolution! The President, Snow, bombed her home district 12. Everybody who is left in the districts goes to district 13. She is on a mission to go to the Capital and kill Snow.

• Main Character: 1. Katniss Everdeen: Age 17, survivor, fighter, long hair, good at using

bow and arrow, brown hair, enthusiastic, friends with Gale, unsure of having feelings for Peeta.

2 Gale Hawthorne: Age 18, friends with Katniss, trying to become friends with Peeta, loves Katniss.

3. Peeta Mellark: Teenager, brown hair, baker, fit, muscular, smart, strong egg to crack, and color of eyes- blue, still loves Katniss.

4. President Snow: Cruel, evil, white hair and beard, selfish, tortures people, cold-hearted, and horrifying , President of the Capital.

5. President Coin: Female, strong leader of district 13.

• Supporting Characters:• Primrose Everdeen- Katniss’ little sister, sweet, nurse in training, blonde

hair, blue eyes, sweetheart.• Haymitch Abernathy- blonde hair, mentor to Katniss, has a drinking

problem, betrayed Katniss and Peeta.3. Finnick Odair- gorgeous, dirty blonde hair, good hunter, loves Annie

Cresta, fit, was in the Hunger Games and friends with Katniss.

• Introduction• Katniss is walking in the ash that used to be district 12.• Katniss is looking at all the ash thinking about how many people

died because of her.• She is so disappointed in herself for letting Snow win the first

round of this game. • She ends up going back to district 13, trying to recruit anybody

that’s good at hunting or using some sort of weapon.• Peeta is being tortured for information on the invasion that the

rebels are going to take over the Capital and overthrow Snow.

• Rising Action• The Capitol is bombing district 13, trying to kill everyone in the

rebellion.• Peeta is rescued from the Capital, but is talking nonsense about

Katniss and how she is evil and cruel.• Katniss meets a girl named Johanna from district 8.• They both train together to try to form a team that will stop the

Capital. • Finnick, Gale, Peeta, Johanna, Cressida, and Katniss form a team.• Katniss disobeys President Coin and goes and tries to kill Snow.

• Climax• Katniss kills President Coin.• Katniss soon realized that after the rebels win President Coin will

have no use for Katniss and just end up killing her.• President kills Katniss’ sister Prim by bombing district 13 again.

• Falling Action• While Katniss is killing Coin with an arrow, Snow sees her doing so

and laughs so hard that he falls from the tower he was kept in until his persecution.

• Conclusion• Since district 13 has President Snow they take a vote if they should

have a the Hunger Games again.• Everybody votes Katniss, Gale, Peeta, Annie, Finnick, Beete,

Cressida, and Johanna.• Now Katniss must pick who she really loves.• She thinks about what the boys will offer to her, like Gale is a

hunter so they will always have food.• But then Katniss thinks about it and says “ I can’t take Gale I have

always loved Peeta from the start, I choose Peeta.

• Aerodynamics-n. The study of the properties of moving air, especially the interaction between air and solid bodies moving through it. Thirteen has been studying their aerodynamics here for years. Pg. 65

• Anesthetize- v. Administer an anesthetic drug to deprive of feeling or awareness. This is a man who spent his adult life at the bottom of the bottle, trying to anesthetize himself against the Capital’s crimes. Pg.166

• Homicidal- adj. Of or relating to the killing of another person. It would certainly simplify the problem of dealing with his homicidal episodes. Pg. 291

• Immunity- n. Protection or exemption from something, especially an obligation or penalty. Surely, there will be repercussions, but will they go as far as Coin annulling our agreement for the victors’ immunity? Pg. 103

• Symbolic- adj. Serving as a symbol. It’s supposed to be symbolic. Pg. 366

Katniss Everdeen is played by: Jodelle Ferland

Gale Hawthorne is played by: Alexander Ludwig

Peeta Mellark is played by: Callan McAuliffe

President Coriolanus Snow is played by: Christopher Walken

President Alma Coin is played by: Meryl Streep

1. A scene when Katniss is on her mission to stop President Snow. It shows how strong and determined Katniss has to be in order to win the war.Excerpt from “ Fighter” by Christina Aguilera

[Chorus:] Makes me that much stronger Makes me work a little bit harder It makes me that much wiser So thanks for making me a fighter Made me learn a little bit faster Made my skin a little bit thicker Makes me that much smarter So thanks for making me a fighter

I gave Mockingjay a rating of

5 out of 5 stars

I gave Mockingjay a five out of five stars because it had lots of emotion and fierce battles. I could feel how the characters felt. I love action, adventure, and love. I enjoyed the Hunger Games Trilogy. I read all of them and was speechless when I was done reading each book. Ms. Collins was very detailed in her writing. I could imagine all of the things that were happening, like the bombing in district 13. I was ecstatic reading the book. I just couldn’t get enough. I was sad that Mockingjay was the last book in the series. But I thought the ending was amazing. It had a terrific story line and can’t wait to see the movies.

Another novel that Mockingjay reminds me of is:

•The Lightning Thief by: Rick Riordan