Catching Fire Spreads Reading Fever

Review by a 4th-grade guest blogger

Catching Fire  By Suzanne Collins

After the 74^th Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Melark return home to District 12 but they are still afraid President Snow and others in the Capitol are thirsty for revenge.

Relationships Katniss had at home have changed forever. Gale doesn’t trust Katniss or Peeta, and none of them can go back to their old lives. Katniss wants to run away, but before she can the Capitol announces she and Peeta must return to the deadly ring for an unusual Quarter Quell. Before the games begin again, President Snow visits Katniss to threaten her personally. Then she learns she is the Mockingjay, the one who inspired other districts to start uprisings.

The Mockingjay Started a War

In the Quarter Quell, Katniss finds some of her enemies are working with her and Peeta. Near the end of the games, the mysterious District 13 rescues her, Finnick, and Beetee. When she wakes up, she finds out the war has broken out and District 12 was bombed to nothingness. Katniss the Mockingjay has started a war, but she doesn’t like what’s happening because of it.

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You too can offer a guest post on this blog! Contact me via comments or Twitter if you're interested. 

~Diane Stresing

Good Books Teach, Reach Far and Wide

Image from Smithsonian article on Lacks. 

My fourth-grader is fascinated, nearly to the point of obsession (which is totally normal for a fourth-grader) with Guinness World Records. Ask any librarian; the books are hot-hot-hot in the children's department.

I'll admit I've become a little jaded re: his litany of mosts, bests, firsts, tallests, etc, etc. When he started telling me about the oldest cells in the world, however, I snapped to attention.

I knew he was talking about Henrietta Lacks. And the cool thing is, he knew it too. He remembered my reaction when I read Rebecca Skloot's excellent report on Lacks' amazing, sometimes horrifying medical history. Lacks died in 1959. Her cells are still alive.

My son made a connection. Whether I can credit Guinness or Skloot is unclear. But the connection is undeniable.

My point, of course, is reading that reading is AWESOME. And if you haven't read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, you really should.

Books, Dogs, and Over-population

So many books, too little time. I'm in complete agreement with that t-shirt slogan. So why in the world would I bring another book - two, even! - into this world? Mhmmm. Well, you do have a point.

I'll admit that the absurdity of it hit me like a lead thesaurus while I was editing my second book in a coffee shop. In the rather fashionable (quaint-but-practical) custom of so many coffee shops, the walls in my favorite refueling spot (hello, Scribbles!) are lined with books.

Books without homes.

They are books with fine pedigrees, too - Michael Creighton's works stand next to spines bearing names like James Joyce and John Green and other folks you've heard of. Folks you've read or will read, when you have time.

And that brings me to my point. See, I really do have one!

Hoards of abandoned books can languish on shelves, or even in boxes, for years - each one will be revived and spring forth with new life the minute a loving owner picks it up.

That's not how it works for abandoned dogs. Or cats. Or any animal. So please, please, please - if you're any kind of human at all - spay and neuter your pets. Never, ever, ever, ever dump an animal.

Once you've mastered that, well then, you're ready to pass along your books to other readers who will pick them up and love them. ;)

~Diane Stresing

Finally, Hungry no More

Yep, that's right - I'm done. Am I the last person here to read The Hunger Games? Or does a review of the first in Suzanne Collins' super-popular series still require a spoiler alert?

Let me know ... I'm crafting my summary now. With help from my 10yo, who will probably get the byline ;)

Just What the World Needs - Another Self-Published Book

A book of personal essays, yet. Insert eye-roll here.

Obviously, this is an obligatory post of self-promotion.

So, have you read my new book yet?

Speaking of personal essays...

17 That Just Might Change Your Life

Tips from Writer's Digest about crafting reader-friendly personal essays  and

Places to publish them! 

Warm Up with a Trip to Summer Falls

Has the current deep freeze made you feel like you need a doctor?

Try Dr. Who, in Summer Falls.

Image from http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/summer-falls

Not only does the title recall higher temperatures and the book get a good review, this guest post received a very warm welcome when it initially published last May. In fact, it was the most-read post of 2013!

So, what are you waiting for? Summer?

Anderson Gets It

“If things like . . . PTSD upset adults like me, what do they feel like to the teens who are trapped by them?” -- Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Speak, and other books you should be reading. 

Seriously, if you need another reason to pick up a book by this outstanding YA author (whose titles are most certainly good enough for adults to read!) please click immediately to her interview recently published in BookPage. 

Thank you.