Love it or hate it, The Hunger Games opened this past weekend with a 12A rating. This film (and the trilogy it’s based on) is backed by marketing clout of Twilight and Harry Potter caliber. In the next few weeks libraries will most likely be inundated by requests for all three Hunger Games novels as well as tie-in books.
As well as read-alikes, you might also want to suggest some “watch-alikes” from this list ofBest Post-Apocalyptic Movies. (Note: some carry ratings of 15 or 18.)
The Hunger Games will be out on the 23rd of March. Already a wildly successful YA trilogy in the US (and popular in the UK, too), the film is bound to create fresh interest in the books. Katniss Everdeen lives in District 12, a poor sector of a dystopian United States called Pan Am. When Katniss’s younger sister is selected as a “tribute” in the yearly state-sponsered teen-on-teen battle royale – the eponymous Hunger Games – Katniss volunteers to take her place, knowing full well that she will probably die in the process.
Film trailer:
Due to the popularity of the books, many American libraries are already hosting Hunger Games events. I would recommend preparing with extra stock – buy plenty of copies of all three books in the and considering events, but holding off until after the film is released, as I suspect many British teens will become fans of the trilogy after they watch the film.
In the meantime, you can read the books yourself and look at the District One Capitol Couture website – a very clever introduction to some of Pan Am’s obsessions.
If you’re like me and lack a television, you can always keep up-to-date by reading Teen Today‘s latest X Factor news including complete song lists and re-caps. Teen Today also weighs in on the upcoming filmMean Girls 2. (Aside: did you know that Teen Today features lots of swank giveaways?)
Did you know that the popular graphic novels The Walking Dead were recently made into a television series?It aired on television in the UK for the first time on 5 November. Click here to watch a trailer (warning: contains gore, guns and zombies). The teens reading group at my library with buzzing about this show.
Three Baking Sheets to the Wind show you how to make butterbeer!
Speaking of fairy tale films, Beastly (a film adaptation of the novel by Alex Flynne), is due to be released in April 2011. Start planning your tie-in promotions and events now! Since the story is based on Beauty and Beast, there are tons of things you do around that story and its myriad retellings. Watch the Beastly trailer below:
In Graphic Novel news, everyone’s talking about the award-winning Canadian comic, Essex County (linked review by Graphic Novel Reporter).
In other news (also from the Graphic Novel Reporter): how cool does this new manga Bakuman sound? It’s about a teen who nearly gives up his dream of drawing manga, only to get the break of a lifetime. Kinda reminds me of some teens I know…
Get your breaking YA movie news from GreenBeanTeenQueen. She and everyone else have been talking about the new Red Riding Hood film. I hope it turns out to be a kind of anti-tale whose werewolf is sympathetic and whose eponymous protagonist is able to make her own consensual choices (and doesn’t need a woodcutter to save her). It’s difficult to tell exactly what the film will be like based on this trailer:
Buffy is not certain whether she likes this plan for a new film.
Those of legal drinking age may appreciate Forever Young Adult’s Harry Potter Drinking Game (also know as, “Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore wants to get you crunk, g-g-get you crunk”).
Harry Potter Wizard Chess is now available as a board game. This is a great introduction to chess, and could possibly a foundation for a new library chess club for teens!
Looking for an update on great book trailers? Books 4 Teens post favourite book trailers once every week. (See below for one of their picks–the trailer for Torment by Lauren Kate.)
The POP Culture Round-Up is a new feature created in response to YOUR demands for more posts about teen pop culture!
At the YALSA conference I attended last weekend, one librarian suggested that those who want to keep up with teen pop culture simply need to have teen magazines routed past their desk before being released to the public. For those whose libraries don’t yet subscribe to teen magazines, check out the magazines’ online presence. for example, Sugar magazine runs Sugar Scape, a website brimming with celebrity gossip and fashion advice. They even have a Sugar teen book club (the current Hot Read is, of course, Pretty Little Liars). In fact, right now Sugar is looking for new teen book reviewers!
Onward, to the first POP Culture Round-Up!
Don’t forget that I Am Number Four (a film based on a book of the same name) is coming to theaters in February! Within the next couple of weeks I’ll post some teen event ideas based on I Am Number Four . In the meantime, enjoy the film trailer:
Last but not least, in the (highly unlikely) case that you missed it, the first part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be released on 19 November, and part 2 will be released in July 2011. More Harry Potter-themed program/event ideas coming soon, because yes, many teens still love Harry Potter.
Love it or hate it, The Hunger Games opened this past weekend with a 12A rating. This film (and the trilogy it’s based on) is backed by marketing clout of Twilight and Harry Potter caliber. In the next few weeks libraries will most likely be inundated by requests for all three Hunger Games novels as well as tie-in books.
Acorn Electric reminds us of
