Water for Elephants

I recently picked up a copy of Water for Elephants because I felt a little culturally out of the loop for not reading it or seeing the movie. Before I start, I will say that I would not select this book for a young adult collection. It is about two things that I know very little about from my own personal experience, living in a circus and struggling with poverty during the Great Depression. I would recommend this book for a supplemental reading list if I high school Social Studies class were studying the Great Depression.

Jacob starts the story with a very charmed life, just like many Americans started life at the beginning of the Great Depression. As a Vet student at Cornell, he is pulled from one of his final classes and told that his parents have died in a car accident. He quickly discovers that his parents were hit hard by the Great Depression and have put themselves into extreme debt to pay for his Ivy League education.

Lost and slightly delirious by the prospect of his looming "future," Jacob finds himself on a circus train, a circus in need of a vet. Any observant reader can tell that he is going to fall in love with the show's star before Jacob even realizes it. However, to find out if he wins her away from her husband, the unbalanced master of animals on the show, you'll have to read it.

When I watched the movie, I was disappointed by the differences. There were more flashbacks to Jacob as an old man in a nursing home in the book and I felt that made him a more sympathetic character. However, both the book and the movie are worth your time to read and enjoy. Interesting lessons for readers can be found in how people struggle and cope with poverty. I felt like a complete jerk as I read this one on the beach! The reality of life for a little person or a struggling alchoholic in the Great Depression are stark and should impact any reader.

The Hunger Games Trilogy

The Hunger Games Trilogy has captured the attention of readers and non-readers alike. The series starts with The Hunger Games and Katniss Everdeen volunteering to go in to the sickest reality television show you can possibly imagine. Collins brings in an interesting love triangle that includes fellow district 12 tribute Peta and Gale, a hunting partner to Katniss. Throughout the series, which includes Catching Fire and Mockingjay, this love triangle is what makes the story interesting, beyond the obvious government gone-wrong/ save the world theme.

I was wildly entertained and I deeply enjoyed this series. As a matter of fact, I read it in a week. However, I have a serious problem with the way that the first book ends. SPOILER ALERT. Because of this ending, an attempted suicide, I have a problem recommending this book to kids and with the popularity that it has maintained over the last few years. As an educator, I am upset with librarians and English teachers alike because I feel like we have missed another opportunity to discuss a serious issue.

When Bella attempted suicide in the Twlight series, we barley mentioned it. In that series, immature readers might have even missed that she was trying to kill herself. However, no one can miss the attempted suicide in The Hunger Games. All action stops and they talk about it. I hate that this is treated so lightly by teachers and I'm not sure that most parents would even know that it is there.

Now that I have said my piece there, I have to say that I thought the movie was great. I had problems with the fact that Madge is not a character in the movie, the bodies are not picked up during the games, and Lenny Kravitz felt like a strange casting choice to me. However, I imagine that I will see it again and deeply enjoy it again.

Finally, Dystopian literature in this manner is doing social studies teachers a favor. Readers are learning to question government. It is so obvious to readers that what the Capital is doing is wrong that drawing parallels about wrongs from our own government is a natural jump.