Everyone has felt the pressure around standardized tests. The thought, real or imagined, that how you perform in this one moment will decide the rest of your life. While we may be lending a dramatic flair to our own examinations, that fear is real for Cia. She has been chosen along with 3 other classmates from the 5 Lakes Colony to participate in The Testing. Every year, the best and brightest high school graduates are brought to Tosu City to undergo a series of exams that will decide who goes on to University.
One of my favorite books of all time is Unwind by Neal Shusterman. The epic story takes place after a second civil war, fought over the morality and legality of abortion leads to peace through the Unwind Accords. This agreement outlaws abortion...however, from the ages of 13 to 18 any child may be unwound by their parents.
Beatrice has grown up in post-apocalyptic Chicago, where the community is divided into 5 factions, each focused on a different value. Candor values honest, Amity values happiness, Erudite values information, Dauntless values courage and Beatrice's faction, Abnegation values selflessness. But Beatrice isn't a very good member of Abnegation, selflessness doesn't seem to come naturally to her like it does for her brother Caleb or her mother. At 16, every member of the community undergoes the test to find out what faction they will choose to live in as an adult.
I approached Mockingjay with a bit of apprehension. You know when there is something you really love you worry that the author/creator might ruin it with one swift stroke of the pen? That is the anxiety I felt leading up to the release of Mockingjay. How could you possibly end a series as great as the Hunger Games? Would Katniss survive? What would happen to Panem!? Although I liked Mockingjay it was certainly not a satisfying book.
The Hunger Games is the story of North America after an apocalyptic war has broken out. Now the continent is made up of 12 districts, ruled over by a wealthy capitol city. Each year, to remind the districts of their loss in the war and how powerless they are, the Capitol chooses two teenagers from each district to participate in a reality TV show. The participants, called tributes are chosen at random from a lottery, one boy and one girl.
