Make them precocious readers.

Here’s my opinion on Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games.”

Yeah, it’s a little dystopian-gory, but you should read it, and your kids should read it, and your teachers should read it out loud to your tweenagers.

When Sadie came home to tell me sixth grade was hearing it read aloud by their teacher — holy bananas, being read aloud to in sixth grade! This surely qualifies as one of the levels of heaven, doesn’t it?

I personally do not love reading aloud, and contrarily, I completely LOVE when teachers read fiction aloud in the classroom. I am pretty sure the last book read aloud to me in a classroom was in third grade. I follow Kate DiCamillo on the faceplant, and if I hadn’t already been a proponent of reading aloud in the classroom, I would be now, after reading anecdote after anecdote of appreciation for teachers reading her books aloud, and sometimes teachers whose teachers had read her books aloud and who now are doing the same.

OK, so back to this book. Until Sadie came home and said they were hearing it, it was not on my radar. It’s been made into a movie, of course, but I don’t watch movies basically ever (among other things, I have plenty of imagination already; it doesn’t need help), and I don’t generally choose dystopian or young adult fiction over other things, so I didn’t really have a frame of reference. But I’m generally prone to trusting teachers — for better or for worse overall, I cannot say, but I guess that testifies to the quality of the teachers I had, doesn’t it?

I had to wait two days for it to become available on Libby and then, alongside the work that presses in on all sides, managed to read it in three days. It’s that absorbing.

Do you remember reading “Lord of the Flies”? or “1984”? or maybe “Screwtape Letters”?

Yeah. You should read this for the same exact kinds of reasons you should read those.

What happens if we forget we are human, or, more importantly, that other people are also human? What happens if technology gets away from us? What happens if we give over too much control to the government? What happens if fear is the control factor? Or pleasure?

What happens if a message is repeated so many times that — even if it’s blatantly false — we can no longer discern right from wrong? What happens if a mentor is completely nutso? What if we stop thinking for ourselves?

And conversely what happens if we do develop skills and interests, work for some degree of self reliance, engage in friendships and family relationships, develop honor and integrity, discern and/or build a good team?

Content-wise, considering its target audience of ages 12-18, I think it’s completely appropriate. There’s not one single swear/curse/cuss word in the book, nor really any euphemistic version of swearing. That’s an accomplishment in itself. There’s killing and death and strategy, and a little bit of romance. But if you’re OK with your kid watching “Star Wars” or playing some first-person adventure video game, and reading Greek or Roman mythology or books about dragons and hobbits, there’s just no reason not to read this.

So … what did I like best about it? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I read for character, and if the setting becomes a character, it’s even better. In this book, the character development is off the charts. Outstanding.

Go therefore and make your kids precocious readers.

If you can read, you can do anything.