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The don't believe that children can grow up healthy if they are constantly shielded from anything that is disturbing, sad, or weighty. In order to grow up to be a well adjusted adults children must be allowed to explore subjects that are sad, disturbing, or make them think hard about their own opinions. For that reason, we do not stop our kids from reading things that might be upsetting, or weighty.
My son read The Hunger Games and A Day No Pigs Would Die in his 7th grade literature class this year. He enjoyed both. He also wrote his research paper on Edgar Allen Poe's The Telltale Heart, a pretty gruesome story. Those pieces of literature are all on the heavy side but he enjoys exploring intellectual themes.
I remember the Lottery disturbing me so much as a kid, i was young when we read it in school and it was disturbing. Yet I HAD to read all of it.
I think parents should do with this what my sister does, if its something your young ones want to read or see in the movies and you arent sure, read or see it first. Like my sister and her daughter read the hunger games but my sister is still going to see the movie in the theater before she lets my niece. So she will see it then she will go with my niece if she thinks its appropriate.
Heck, I didn't read The Lottery until I was in college and it was disturbing then. The Hunger Games is no where near that disturbing (although it has a similar theme).
I think the Hunger Games is disturbing for some adults the same reason it is so powerful for many teens. The book treats its teen characters as people who have to make hard choices and live with the consequences first and as teenagers second. Many of the adults I know have a hard time with the book because of the age of the characters but in reality Katniss, Peeta, and the other tributes are not children any more.
My students have told me they enjoy the fact that the protagonist has to make life and death decision because many of them are faced with real, potentially life altering decisions every day. They may not be life and death, but they struggle none the less. Suzanne Collins treats teenagers as if their problems are real and as if their solutions to those problems can actually cause change, both positively and negatively. Those same students hate the Twilight books for marginalizing teenagers problems.
I let my 11 yr old read the first book, but not the 2nd or 3rd yet. I'm having him wait another year or two for those. They just seemed a lot darker to me than the first one. We did watch the movie yesterday.
I wouldn't recommend them to anyone under the age of 10 or so, depending on maturity level since the books are pretty violent. In my opinion the first book is more violent compared to the movie because they made a lot of effort to tone it down to get the pg-13 rating.
I find it interesting that a lot of younger readers don't like the ending of the series. One of the most unique parts about the books is how realistically the characters react to major trauma. Teens are exposed to tons of violence in books, movies, and video games today but usually the main characters witness some terrible event and bounce right back mentally after a few tears. In some ways, I think younger readers of the series have an easy time dealing with the violence of the first book, and a much harder time processing the ending of the series because most don't have enough life experience to realize that war is brutal and it does screw people up psychologically.
I let my 11 yr old read the first book, but not the 2nd or 3rd yet. I'm having him wait another year or two for those. They just seemed a lot darker to me than the first one. We did watch the movie yesterday.
If he can handle book 1, he can handle book 2 & 3
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