Catching Fire by Susanne Collins

 

Catching Fire  is the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark are the newest winners of the Hunger Games and are preparing to commence in the victory tour, but not before President Snow pays a visit to Katniss (18). She now must prove to the districts that she acted completely out of love, she alone must subdue the uprisings. To prove their love Peeta proposes, yet even this is not good enough for President Snow (74).  He wants them out of the way, and to do this he sends them back into the arena. The quarter quell is far worse than the previous games. They must battle blood thirsty monkeys and horrific screams all while avoiding their opponents. Just when Katniss accepts her fate the unthinkable happens. District 13 obliterates the arena and saves the survivors, all the survivors except for Peeta, and Katniss is willing to fight to the death for him.

Most people will say Katniss Everdeen is fearless; I disagree. She is not the symbol of rebellion because she doesn't feel fear, she is the symbol because she doesn't comply to fear. When in the arena she clearly showed her ability to push aside the urge to leave, to give up. Katniss fought through her emotional pain to help Finnick when he was confronted by the jabberjays (342).She shows courage in her pursuit to please President Snow, when she knows there is an easier way. She thinks of how her actions will affect those dear to her and strives to succeed for them. Katniss does acknowledge fear, she just refuses to accept it.

 Finnick Odair is different than most tributes. He is a 'Carrier tribute', a tribute who hails from a wealthy district thus receiving extensive training and plenty of nourishment. Most tributes from these districts care only for their pride, but Finnick is different. He cares for his family, for his mentors, for his allies, and for one special girl. Finnick is known in the capitol for his looks and suave, but at home he is known for his compassion. He is different than the other Carriers because he has a back story, because he cares for more than himself.

One of the themes in this book is strength in numbers. During the victory tour Katniss confided in Peeta and Haymitch to help her. In the arena Finnick sought help from the other tributes to remain driven. All through the book characters search for a friend to confide in and when they find one they become stronger. Catching Fire illustrates the need humans have to be with one another.

I would highly recommend this book for almost any age.  I enjoyed this book, my brother enjoyed this book, even my younger sister enjoyed the parts I read to her. This book contains action for those thrill seekers, love for the romantics, mystery for the curious, even a little futuristic electronics for the geeky readers. This book contains all the aspects of the perfect book. I find it a great read no matter how many times I read it.

I got my picture from:http://www.myhungergames.com/the-75th-hunger-games-arena-map

Dive by Gordon Korman

 

Dive: The Discovery is the first book of the 'Dive' series by Gordon Korman. It starts with four teenagers recieving internships with the Poseidon Oceanographic Institute. The interns consisted of Bobby Kaczinski, Dante Lewis, Andrea Ballantyne, and Star Ling, all of which are beginner divers or handicapped. They all wonder,"Why did they chose us?" Soon after many early mornings only to find their diving boat already out, they realize the truth. These Caribbean waters were hiding multiple wrecks and the children are merely a  cover up. With the assistance of another diving team on the island, the teenagers finally get a chance to catch up to the treasure hunters and make their own discovery. Dante, the colorblind photographer, can see the floor bottom with ease and with it the coins and anchor of a wreck. The dive team is told it is phony when really the treasure hunters plan to uncover it themselves. In the end of the book Kaz, Dante, Andrea, and Star catch the team illegally killing coral to reach the wreck and are left to wonder, 'what now?'

Bobby Kaczinski, commonly known as Kaz, is a prominent character in this book. Before he decided to learn to dive his life was all hockey. Living in Canada he played hockey for school, out of school, and in the summer. He had potential and his family and everyone else knew it, until he gave a legal, one in a million blow to another player paralyzing him(4). He gave up his dream. He became protective of all his teammates. From then on his protectiveness is evident. He saves Star when her airline is broke. He goes after Dante when he is endangered by the wildlife. He even confronts a tiger shark to protect his dive team (125). Kaz is the boy who learned from his mistakes and shows it.

Dante Lewis is also another interesting character. He is introduced as the clumsy boy but amazing black and white photographer. He has been featured in newspapers and magazines around the world for his work but they all want more; they all want Dante to capture color photographs. He seems as though he is quiet because of his personality, but as the book progresses he tells his secret. He's colorblind. He is living in a black and white movie. Dante is the perfect example that everyone has another side or something that makes them who they are. For Dante it was his sight, for me it may be where I live. Dante is one of the characters I have very easily related to in any book I have ever read.

One of the themes I noticed was growing closer with your friends. Throughout the book, the dive team is left on shore and is forced to be together whether they like it or not. They learn all the good and bad things about one another such as Dante's colorblindness (113) and Andrea's family troubles (52). All their secrets are unveiled when they spend time with each other and spot all the strange things about one another. This caused them to not only want to be closer, but it forced them to be.

Although I enjoyed the book I would not recommend it to readers at my age. The pace was slow and the plot was predictable. It did however, spark my intrigue into diving and treasure hunting. This book would not me one of my favorites,but there are multiple other books in this series, so if I do chose to read them I hope they go into further depths of the story with more than just the childish plot line of scary sharks and a sunken ship. Dive: The Discovery was not enjoyable for me but I am able to say for some audiences it will be. I simply do not have the point of view to appreciate it.

Peak by Roland Smith

 

 Peak Marcello has a strange hobby; he scales skyscrapers.Yet one day he's caught and trialed in court. His father, a famous mountain climber named Joshua Wood, flies from Thailand to save the day. As payment for his crimes Peak must leave his family in New York to live in Thailand with his dad. However, Joshua Wood has a different idea;Peak will scale Mt. Everest. Joshua's climbing business, Peak Experience, would gain publicity by placing the youngest climber on Everest's summit. On the secret climb, Peak meets a very lucky or psychic Sherpa, Zopa, and his grandson, Sun-Jo. Halfway through acclimatization the climbers must find a new route to the summit because because of, Captain Shek, a Chinese military official enforcing climbing permits, which Peak does not have. In the end, Sun-Jo reaches the summit in time, yet Peak gives up the chance to top the world to keep Sun-Jo safe.

Peak is the person all teenagers wish they could be. His physical appearance is nothing special, but his decisions and skills are what everyone wants to become. His family loves him, his education is top notch and he is amazing at one thing. Peak also has many opportunities many people never get. His father's work made it so he could top the world's tallest mountain. He could've taken those last steps to the top, but he thought about someone else instead. His mind set is of the perfect human. Many teenagers as well as other readers would be and are jealous of this fictional character's situation.

One of the themes I observed in this book was perseverance. Peak gave everything to risk the climb on Mt. Everest. He risked being caught by Captain Shek. He risked his health and his life by not taking the extra time to acclimatize. Peak pushed through all the emotional and physical pain to reach his goal. He pushed through; he showed perseverance.

Another theme I noticed was the affects of jealousy on friendship. When Peak became jealous of Sun-Jo, he stopped caring for him. Peak stopped checking on Sun-Jo when he was sick, he stopped helping him climb because Sun-Jo wanted to climb. Sun-Jo deserved the chance just like Peak did. Jealousy caused Peak and Sun-Jo's friendship to fall apart.

This book was perfect. That is also what I didn't like about it. Peak was the perfect depiction of a teenager, climbing Everest was the perfect setting and it had the perfect ending. However, its perfection was also shown in its predictable events. It was not surprising at all and the book's events were bland. A little bit of drama, a little bit of conflict, and a lot of success; the perfect kid, the new friend, the awesome parent, and the  weird family friend all create the over done book plot. This book was so similar to many other books I've read that I found myself having to reread the pages because I dosed off. This book was too slow for me even if I enjoyed it in the end.

The picture is from: http://www.mountainmadness.com/adventures/expeditions/asia/nepal/everest#trip-overview/description