THIS WEEK IN BOOKS

1) The Lucky Kind by Alyssa B. Sheinmel /YA/ ***
A teenage love story from a guys point of view which is always refreshing and also somewhat disturbing all at the same time.  It's a coming of age story about a boy reacting to discovery that his father had fathered a child while in High School who was put up for adoption.   My favorite part was how angry he was at his dad for being so "stupid" to get a girl pregnant, but then ends up facing some of the same situations as his father.
2) Grip of the Shadow Plague (Fablehaven) by Brandon Mull / JF / *** 1/2
Third book of the Fablehaven Series. They just keep getting better and better.  I enjoyed how the plot is thickening and the characters are growing and developing.  My favorite part? When the brownies have boobytrapped the house. HILARIOUS.
3) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins / YA / *****
4) Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) by Suzanne Collins / YA / *****
5) Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, Book 3) / YA / ****
I have read these books several times.  I first heard of Hunger Games when I was on my dystopian kick.  I purchased a copy to donate to the library with the condition I got to read it first.  I loved the book and eagerly told people about it. I described it as a combination of "American Idol" and "Survivor" which garnered me a lot of strange looks.
I eagerly awaited Catching Fire and was thrilled with the entire book.  Then I had to wait again for the third book (note to self.... do not start a series EVER AGAIN until all the books are written).
The first time I read Mockingjay I was VERY.UPSET. 
I read it again to make sure I didn't like it. And while I liked it better, I didn't LOVE it like I had the first two books. In the first two, there was such good character development.  You understood their motivations. The moral dilemas they faced were thought provoking. You could understand them. 
In Mockingjay, this is missing.  Katniss falters. I guess it could be argued that this makes her real, but to me she was borderline unlikeable.  She was not the same character.   This feeling is only made more obvious by the way the story ends.  I finally came to the conclusion that Katniss agreed to a renewed Hunger Games in order to get the opportunity to stop Coin. But this is not made clear in the book.  The first time I read it I was like WHAT? I had to flip back a few chapters to see if I somehow missed something.  I've had several conversations with adults that were confused too.  Considering this is a book for grades 7 and up, I can see where many readers may never "get it".  I've had to explain it to every one of my kids.  And it had the potential to be brilliant - kind of like the ending of "Enders Game" by Orson Scott Card. 

This is the first time I've read the books back to back over the course of a few days.
And while Mockingjay has it's problems, I must say that I enjoyed it more this time than I ever did.  I caught some of the small details that had been present in all three books tying the story together (i.e. PeetaPeeta thing.  This time, I totally got it.  And it was sweet.  And it felt right.   In fact when I finished the story today, I actually cried it was so beautiful.  So there ya go.... 
Hunger Games.  READ IT.