Grade Level: 9-12
Interest Level: N/A
Reading Level: N/A

The Discovering Literature Series is a teaching guide that was designed to help students develop an appreciation for literature, to improve reading comprehension, and to introduce students to the techniques of literary criticism that reflect our best understanding of how to make meaning from text. Each guide in the series features an award-winning novel and uses a focus on strategic reading in its introduction of a wide range of critical reading skills and literature elements, as well as opportunities for writing in a variety of genres.

Each literature teaching guide for the Hunger Games trilogy is aligned to the Common Core State Standards and includes strategic reading lessons that focus on both the individual volume and the series. There are over 50 separate strategies in the series for deeper understanding and meaning.

In addition to lessons that focus on the standard elements of literature (plot, characterization, setting and mood, theme, diction, style, and narration), students are provided with the Choice Analysis Tool to help them gain a deep understanding of motivation in a complex and terrorized society. They are also offered the opportunity to use historical documents (e.g., the Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence) as well as other works of literature and poetry to contextualize the trilogy. Each book also includes Writer’s Forums that guide students in writing while using the books in the series as a backdrop. A vocabulary feature in the final volume provides word study ideas for the entire series.

This 112-page teaching guide includes an answer key.

Table of Contents

The Elements in this Literature Guide

Teaching with Digital Editions

Introducing the Literature

Bibliography

Suzanne Collins and The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games Movies

Common Core Correlation

Strategy 1: Beginning a Book

PART I “The Tributes”

Chapter 1:  The Reaping

• Strategy 2: Understanding the Reading Process 15 

• Strategy 3: Marking a Text 

• Strategy 4: Plot—Identifying the Overall Design of a Story 

• Strategy 5: Identifying the Narrator

Chapter 2:  The Volunteer; the Boy with the Bread

• Strategy 6: Interpreting Characterization

• Strategy 7: Plot—Foreshadowing and Flashback

• Strategy 8: Analyzing Choices

• Writer’s Forum 1: Writing a News Story

Chapter 3:  Goodbyes; the Trip to the Capitol Begins

• Strategy 9: Relating Setting and Mood

Chapter 4:  Tributes Confront Haymitch; Arrival at the Capitol

• Strategy 10: Forming Hypotheses
• Writer’s Forum 2: Comparing and Contrasting

Chapter 5:  The Stylists Create a Girl on Fire

• Strategy 11: Interpreting Names

Chapter 6:  The Avox 

• Strategy 12: Understanding Symbolism and Motifs

Chapter 7:  Training; Impressing the Gamemakers

Chapter 8:  The Scoring; How Katniss and Gale Met 

• Strategy 13: Understanding Character Traits as Ranges

Chapter 9:  The Interviews 

• Strategy 14: Identifying References, Allusions, and Parody

TEST: Chapters 1–9

PART II “The Games”

Chapter 10:  “An Object of Love”; “To Die as Myself”

Chapter 11:  The Games Begin; Search for Water; Peeta Joins Careers 

• Strategy 15: Reading Dialogue 

• Writer’s Forum: 3 Writing Dialogue

Chapter 12:  Finding Water; the Wall of Fire

Chapter 13:  On Fire; Treed

Chapter 14:  Tracker Jackers; the Silver Bow; Peeta Saves Katniss 

• Strategy 16: Plot—Distinguishing Types of Conflict

Chapter 15:  An Ally and a Plan 

• Writer’s Forum 4: Writing First-Person Narration

Chapter 16:  Blowing Up the Careers’ Stash

Chapter 17:  Katniss Loses Her Hearing; Rue in Trouble 

• Strategy 17: Engaging with Text Through Imaging 

• Strategy 18: Understanding Cliffhangers

Chapter 18:  Rue’s Death; Rule Change 

• Strategy 19: Analyzing Lyrics 

• Writer’s Forum 5: Writing Lyrics

TEST: Chapters 10–18

PART III “The Victor”

Chapter 19:  Finding Wounded Peeta; the Cave 

• Writer’s Forum 6: Writing Description

Chapter 20:  Prim’s Goat; Invitation to a Feast 

• Writer’s Forum 7: Composing an Anecdote

Chapter 21:  The Gamemaker’s Feast; Death and Medicine

Chapter 22:  Feelings on Display; Haymitch’s Feast

Chapter 23:  Thresh’s Death; Foxface’s Death 

• Strategy 20: Revising Hypotheses

Chapter 24:  Last Night in the Cave; Driven to the Lake 

• Writer’s Forum 8: Writing a Possible Ending

Chapter 25:  Mutations; Second Rule Change; More Berries; Victors

Chapter 26:  Recovery Period; Haymitch’s Warning 

• Strategy 21: Interpreting Irony 

• Strategy 22: Tracing the Hero’s Journey 

• Strategy 23: Analyzing Diction and Style

Chapter 27:  Highlights; Exit Interview; Train Ride Home 

• Strategy 24: Rereading a Book • Strategy 25: Identifying Themes 

• Writer’s Forum 9: Composing a Book Review 

• Writer’s Forum 10: Comparing Two Treatments

TEST: Chapters 19–27 87

THEME PAGES 

• Taste 

• Identity 

• Integrity 

• Courage 

• Friendship and Loyalty • Leadership and Government • Good and Evil

ANSWER PAGES:  Chapter, Strategy, Writer’s Forum, and Test Page Answers in Order, Theme Page Answers