Few defining characteristics describe a book appropriate for middle school students to teach in the classroom. Literature presented to impressive young students must be relevant enough to enrich and intrigue without boring them. Deciding whether middle school children (7th and 8th grade) should be tasked with reading an explicitly violent series like Suzanne Collin's The Hunger Games in class is a question that has been debated numerous times since the first book's release in 2008. The Games trilogy is a series in which children are forced to fight each year in a national spectacle known as the Hunger Games. Many people think that middle school students should not be allowed to read this at all, much less read it in class. What turns off parents is that it's a graphic series that revolves around a teenage protagonist who fights to the death with others her age. Parents won't be able to completely avoid the topic as more and more children begin to discuss books and movies. Protective parents and teachers hope to protect their children from violence by preventing them from participating in the Hunger Games. They worry about the harm that children could suffer from the series which seems to make violence between children acceptable. On the other hand, more liberal parents and instructors allow their young ones to participate in this craze despite the blood involved in the stories. They argue that the story's messages are something they want their children to see for themselves. The political and social aspects of the books are ideas that could be used to teach more in-depth, concrete lessons that students often sleep through. Hunger Games books can open middle schoolers' minds to the world...... middle of paper...... March 12, 2014. Grossman, Lev. “Writing “war-appropriate” stories for children: a conversation with SuzanneCollins and Francis Lawrence. » Time.com. Time Magazine Inc. November 19, 2013.Web. March 12, 2014.Pols, Mary. "The Katniss Conundrum: Is She Okay for the Kids?" » Time.com. Time Magazine Inc. November 21, 2013. Web. March 15, 2014. Simmons, Amber M. “Classroom on Fire: Using the Hunger Games Trilogy to Encourage Social Action.” » The Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 56.1 (2012): 22-34. Print.Sprecher, Anna. “And may the visuals always be in your favor.” Journal of people, ideas and things. 4 (2013). Internet. April 10, 2014. http://pitjournal.unc.edu/article/and-may-visuals-be-ever-your-favor-analysis-visual-metaphors-hunger-games http://www.forbes.com/sites/ work-in-progress/2012/03/24/the-desensitization-of-the-hunger-games-tween-in-the-work-life-merge/