Reading - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, p. 148- 195

In chapter 11, the Games begin.  I can’t say much because I don’t want to ruin the plot, but she survives the first day.  Eleven other tributes aren’t as lucky.  She manages to get a backpack full of supplies, including a sleeping bag, from the Cornucopia.  She is sleeping in a tree when she hears some Careers talking beneath her.  They kill a girl who was foolish enough to start a fire.  Then, Katniss hears Peeta’s voice.

In chapter 12, Katniss almost falls out of the tree. She is so surprised that Peeta is with the Careers.  When Peeta goes to get something, she hears the Careers talking about him.  She finds out that the reason they haven’t killed him yet is because he is their best chance of finding her.  When they leave, she continues on searching for water.  She gets severely dehydrated and assesses her options: she would never make it to the lake, there’s not a cloud in the sky so rain is improbable, so her only option is to keep looking.  Then, another thought hits her – Haymitch could send her water.  Press a button and have it delivered to her in a silver parachute in minutes.  She knows she must have sponsors so she says “Water,” and waits but nothing comes.  She becomes distressed and eventually figures out that he is sending her a message.  There’s only one good reason Haymitch could be withholding water from her and that is because he knows she’s almost found it.  By afternoon, she thinks she’s going to die and collapses into mud.  Then she realizes that if there is mud, there must be water and sure enough, there is a pond 5 yards from where she fell.  She fills her flask with water and adds a few drops of iodine to purify it.  By the time the anthem plays, she feels remarkably better.  There are no faces on the huge screen above the arena, so no one died that day.  She falls asleep and a few hours later she wakes to find a wall of fire descending on her.

In chapter 13, she scrambles out of the tree and follow the rabbits and deer in running from the fire and smoke.  Katniss knows that this fire wasn’t an accident; it was made by the Gamemakers.  Things had been too quiet that day and the audience in the Capitol might be getting bored, claiming that these Games are verging on dullness, which is one thing the Games must not do. The fire is designed to flush the non-Careers out of that area and drive everyone together.  Then, fireballs start blasting at her.  She keeps zigzagging and diving and leaping to avoid the fireballs because she knows from watching previous Hunger Games that certain areas of the arena are rigged for certain attacks.  She just needs to get away from that section.  Unfortunately, however, a fireball skids across her right calf and crashes into the ground at her side.  She can hear Cinna’s voice saying, “Katniss, the girl who was on fire,” and imagines that the Gamemakers are having a good laugh over that one.  The attack is then over, but she now has server burns on her calf and hands and they are covered in blisters.  She finds a spring-fed pool and tries to treat her burns somewhat.  As evening begins to fall, she hears the Careers.  She picks a high tree and climbs up 20 feet.  All six Careers come, but they are heavier than her and can’t climb the tree.  They decide that since she’s not going anywhere, they will deal with her in the morning.  During the night, she sees a pair of eyes peer at her from the neighboring tree.  At first she thinks they are a possum’s eyes, but then she realizes that it is Rue, the little 12-year-old girl from 11, who is watching her silently from the branches.  Then, without even rustling a leaf, she points to something above Katniss’s head.

In chapter 14, Katniss realizes it’s a wasp nest that is about 15 feet above her.  More than that, they are one of the Capitol’s mutations, tracker jackers – killer wasps with a sting that raises a lump the size of a plum on contact.  Most people can’t tolerate more than a few stings and some die at once.  If you live, the hallucinations brought on by the venom have actually driven people to madness.  I’m not going to tell what happens next because I don’t want to spoil the plot.  But during the action, Katniss gets her first gift from a sponsor – really expensive burn medicine.  She also finds out the Rue has survived because she has been jumping from tree to tree.  The Careers flee to the lake.  Glimmer, District 1, dies and Katniss takes her bow and arrows.  Katniss is stung, but Peeta comes back and tells her to get up and run and then fights off Cato (D2) while she escapes.

That was really cool.  I didn’t think that she was going to find a way out of that situation, but she did.  Of course, she had some surprising help.  That was really cool that Rue just popped out of nowhere and basically saved her life.  I think I like Rue.  She’s a little mysterious, but I think it’s funny that she’s been jumping from tree to tree.  That’s probably why she got such a high score in training.  I also loved that Peeta came and saved Katniss.  I wonder if he cares for her after-all.  I hope he survived Cato because I think he is a very interesting character.