I am going to be purposefully vague here so as not to spoil the reading experience for anyone who has not yet finished reading the third book in the Hunger Games trilogy. MOCKINGJAY has been the book I have had to read in snatches since I am working (and playing) here in Hawaii. However, I did find time to sit down yesterday evening and complete the reading. I, along with so many other readers, mentioned that we needed to process the book first. I think that is the mark of a good read and a well written book--that need to process. I had so many mixed emotions as I began the reading. How would Collins manage to bring this to a satisfying and yet realistic conclusion. Team Peeta? Team Gale? Or as Malinda Ash put it so beautifully: how about Team Katniss?
The tension is there, ever present. Who will survive. At what costs? I will confess to some real moments of panic alongside Katniss and Peeta and Gale and the other characters I have come to know and care about in this series. I will write more to thge point once I think folks have had the chance to obtain the book and read it. Suffice to say for now that those who have followed this saga will find much to admire and even more to discuss in MOCKINGJAY.
We leave Hawaii tonight and fly overnight back to Houston. We have not seen network news since our arrival here just a few headlines when we log in to check our email accounts. I do know that Humble ISD has canceled its Teen Lit Festival. I am sad that the kids will not get to hear Ellen Hopkins. I am dumbfounded and embarrassed by the narrow mindedness of the censors who forced this cancellation. And I think I am relieved that I missed all of the awful chest thumping from some of the folks who spoke in the Capitol yesterday. Why do I mention this? Read the Hunger Games. Read Chaos Walking. These are not futuristic dystopian scenarios. These are reflections of the chilling times in which we live.
On a happier note, here is my better half modeling the incredibly beautiful lei I was given yesterday by the Hawaiian Council of Teachers of English.