Late night Hunger Games

     
      Another milestone in my family's life....we bought our first eBook.  It is not that we have never read them, but being a librarian I have always checked them out.  However, late last night a frantic daughter made the purchase necessary.
      It actually started a couple days ago with my daughter's desire to read Hunger Games.  I have been listening to the audio version (I could never get the print copy since all those darn teens have it checked out), so I know the story and could warn my daughter that this book isn't funny or cute.  She is in upper elementary thus I wanted her to be aware of the content.  Being fully informed she still insisted she wanted to read it.
      Our bookshelves are overflowing onto other surfaces and I didn't know if she would really like the book or its length so, I checked the other area libraries.  Of course all their copies were checked out too.  As I was looking through card catalogs my daughter found a copy on our eReader.  What is a mother/librarian to do...I downloaded the preview thinking that would take care of the problem.  A happy daughter went off to read.
      Now at this point I thought she would read a few pages, not like the seriousness of the content and move on to a different book.  I snuggled in to what I thought was going to be a quiet evening with my book and tea only to be abruptly interrupted by a panicked child jumping on my bed.
"Mom, the preview is over...MOM, it won't, let me read any further....MOM I WANT TO READ MORE!"
      I tried to reassure her that we would go buy the book tomorrow.  No deal, she reminded me we had not found a copy at the used bookstore and how much the cost was at other stores.  She wanted to read more and she wanted to read it NOW.
     I prepared myself for the expense and opened the eReader store.  Much to my surprise the full version of Hunger Games was only $5.  I quickly downloaded the book; it was easy even with my preteen jumping on the bed.  Once the download was complete I sent a happy content daughter off to bed.  The last thing I remember sometime much later was hearing my husband explaining to her that she had to put the book up and go to sleep.  Happy librarian mom!
      So, my opinion of eBooks.  They are awesome!  There is nothing like being able to get a book instantly.  Do I think they will "kill" print books; NO.  As my daughter and many other digital natives will tell you there is nothing like the feel of a print book.  What I appreciate about digital content as a mother, librarian, and teacher is that it is helping young people get content in a form they are willing to read it in and making them demand higher quality content.  There is nothing better then hearing the young people I work with or that are in my family discuss what they are reading both in print and digitally.
      My opinion of Hunger Games, well, like most of the world I am hooked.  The story is not completely new as there are many apocalyptic stories that pit man against man for the entertainment of the privileged, but that is only a small part of this story.  There is family, self sacrifice, friendship,  and self image just to name a few themes.  The writing is wonderfully descriptive without going overboard.  The characters are strong without being unrealistic.  As a parent if I had a child under twelve that wanted to read Hunger Games I would read it first allowing me to decide if my child was really ready for the violent content and allowing me to discuss the story with them.  This is a great discussion book for families.

So...."Let the Hunger Games begin!"