Mockingjay Launch Party?
Wednesday, April 14, 2010 | 11:03 pm“Postapocalyptic Battle Royale in the Appalachian Mountains” is how I booktalk Hunger Games, followed by, “It’s really good, trust me.”
The Hunger Games series; Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and soon, the third and final book, Mockingjay, are written by the talented Suzanne Collins, formerly of Gregor of Overlander fame.
Considering that I’ve been on a pre-order for Mockingjay for several months, and that I have a ways to wait before its August 24th release, I can understand why many people don’t start a series until it has been completely finished. The anticipation is killer! Well, to those patient readers, I salute you, but I am not one of your ilk.
If you have a bunch of teens also chomping at the bit, why not have a Mockingjay Launch Party? Below are a few ideas:
- Tribute Competition/Parade: Dress up as tributes and have a parade and compete for best costume. What would be really fun would be to break the teens into teams, and then they would have to pick a District out of a hat and then have twenty minutes or so to dress their tribute. You could give them grab bags made up of surplus craft supplies from previous events, and then give out prizes to the winning team. If you had a group of hardcore fans they could dress up beforehand and have a parade, and vote for a winner.
- Training Sessions: Have stations set up where students can test their skills. Knot tying, plant identification, camouflage face painting, bird calls, etc. You could earn a badge or a stamp for passing each station, and then the winner would be the tribute with the most stamps. You could also have the tributes work in teams for this one.
- Hunger Games Trivia or Jeopardy Game. This could accompany a pizza or cupcake party. As an added bonus, the teens could decorate the cupcakes themselves – you could call that station Peeta’s Bakery or Peeta’s Cakes. You could also have a cupcake station in the training sessions instead of face painting.
- Fan Fiction contest: Scholastic had a “How Would You Survive?” essay contest between Hunger Games and Catching Fire. What about a “What Happens Next?” or “The True Meaning of the Mockingjay” essay contest for teens to do over the summer? The winner would get a hardcopy of the book. You would need to limit the word count so that you wouldn’t have to do too much reading, or have the teens pick the winner, but you could do the the pizza/cupcake party idea with this as well, and the winning entries could be posted for teens to read and discuss.
- Mockingjay Pins: I know that the pins were really popular when Catching Fire came out, some of them are hot tickets on eBay, so what about a homegrown version? On the cover of Mockingjay is a free-flying silver bird, sans circle. This was the closest I was able to find. It is technically a swallow, but it might be a cool prize for everyone to have. Another idea would be to scan the Mockingjay onto paper and have the teens decorate and make their own mockingjay badges if you have a Badge a Minit machine. Everyone could also make their own slogans, “Down with the Capitol” or some such, or “Team Peeta” and “Team Gale” pins.
- What to Read While Waiting for Mockingjay? This might be easier to do if you have a Teen Advisory Group, but you could have the teens come up with readalikes for The Hunger Games Series, and then they could write up reviews and make a book display. If you have a bulletin board and a teen area, you could have a countdown to Mockingday calendar on the board, and X out each day, as well as have the reviews and photocopies of the other teen recommendations on display. This might be a fun Summer Reading Club activity if it fits with your theme. The Mockingjay Launch party could also be your end of SRC party.
—HeadCardigan
(posted in Uncategorized | tagged hunger games, mockingjay, suzanne collins)
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