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Wednesday, April 11, 2012

BBReview: "Katniss the Cattail: An Unauthorized Guide to Names and Symbols in Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games" By Valerie Estelle Frankel

From Goodreads.com
Genre: Young Adult - Non-Fiction/Guide
Publishing Date: February 13th, 2012
Page Count: 104
Source: Sent to me by the author
Format: Paperback

Description from Goodreads.com:
Who was Cinna? What do the hawthorn and primrose symbolize? Or President Snow's roses and Peeta's bread? What about Katniss's last name? Bringing details from myths, herbal guides, military histories, and the classics, English professor and award-winning pop culture author Valerie Estelle Frankel sheds light on the deeper meanings behind Panem's heroes and villians in this hottest of YA trilogies. In her series, Collins not only weaves a heroic tale of deep complexity but harnesses the power of Shakespeare and Rome to retell an ancient epic of betrayal, violence, and glory on the stage of an apocalyptic future. The perfect treat for fans of all ages. Everything Hunger Games, packed into one volume. From Alma Coin to Wiress you'll learn about -Why roses are a flower of death -How eighteen of the characters are used in Shakespeare's plays -Katniss's nickname Catnip - The meaning of "The Hanging Tree" -Peeta's pearl and Katniss's salvation -Effie the saint and Finnick the Irish hero.

Review:
If you are like me then when you get obsessed with a series, or author, you look for everything you can to fill that void when you've finished the series or read all the books that authors written. You look for other authors like them, and any other book that even slightly resembles that series. This is how i even got started with being in love YA Paranormal. My cousin forced me to read Twilight and then i had to read every vampire book/series out there that would slightly remind me of it to fill the void since the series was over. Well, The Hunger Games is my new Twilight. I am completely obsessed and love it more than Twilight, but shhh! Don't tell anyone i said that. So, when Valerie sent me a request to review her unauthorized guide to The Hunger Games i jumped on it. I had to have more knowledge of the series, and had to have something to fill the void.
Katniss the Cattail is a great book if you obsessed with The Hunger Games. If you aren't then i wouldn't suggest it, because i feel you would end up getting bored and put it down about three pages in tops. This is for hardcore fans only. It is a just a guide so there aren't any extra things about The Hunger Games that Suzanne Collins decided to throw in to dazzle her fans with so don't be disappointed. I'm sure she might do that with the official guide, but definitely not with an unauthorized.
Although it isn't official, so Suzanne Collins had nothing to do with it, it is very good. Katniss the Cattail is very well researched. You can tell by the citing and just by the vast, not normally known, knowledge that has been written on these pages. Valerie definitely did her research and must be a devote fan. I loved all of her theories for everyone's names, and i loved that she didn't just research the name and put everything she could find, but she looked and wrote the research of the names that fit that character. Every piece of knowledge that she found it matched that character to a T.

Overall:
Katniss the Cattail was very well researched. Everything that Valerie found about the names and symbols through research was pinpoint correct and matched the characters personalities and how things were supposed to appear in the book. I learned a lot from it and learned possible new insights on what Collins meant when she had certain things happen in The Hunger Games. If you are not a devote, crazy, obsessed fan of The Hunger Games then unfortunately this guide is not for you.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 4/5