Spoiler Alert

The other day my students were talking about their independent reading books in small groups. It's a weekly assignment, but right now, it seems like there are a lot of kids reading The Hunger Games and its sequels, and all of them are in different places, which makes it a little challenging for them to have these discussions without spoiling the plot for someone else. In one of my classes I looked up to find a student pacing back and forth next to his table with his fingers in his ears. At first, I was alarmed, but when I went over there, the group explained that he just didn't want to hear anything about what was coming next in the book.

Later in the day, someone asked me about the narrative voice of the series. "It's written in first person," I said. "The main character, Katniss Everdeen, is telling the story in all three books."

"Thanks a lot!" a little girl snapped, "Now I know she doesn't die!"

I laughed and to throw her off I said, "Oh no-- she tells the third one from beyond the grave." And then I made spooky ghost noises.

"Thanks a lot," she said again. "Now you've really ruined it!"

Since it was clear I couldn't win, and I kind of wanted to mess with her and keep her guessing, too, I continued. "But that's not all! She's a zombie in the second one!"

"Oh she is not!" the student insisted. "I saw the last line of the book. She takes Peeta's hand."

"Yeah, his cold, dead, severed hand!" I said triumphantly.

"Oh, now I don't even know what to think! I'm just going to finish the book," she scoffed.

"You do that," I told her. "You do that."

(Click here for today's sample of my 6th grade students' response to the SOLSC challenge.)