Abstract
The rise of female protagonists in contemporary young-adult fiction positively and negatively impacts young-adult readers (Nilson & Donelson, 2009). Suzanne Collins’ novel The Hunger Games (2008) highlights Katniss Everdeen who is a strong, independent female protagonist. Millions of young-adult females identify with Katniss as they read the novel (Latham & Hollister, 2013). The extreme lack of gender equity training for educators creates inequities in classrooms (Carinci, 2007). Many teachers are ignorant of the negative impact this bias has on the education and self-esteem of girls in the classroom (Sadker & Saker, 1986). The absence of gender equity training causes current Hunger Games curriculum guides to be gender biased. This bias creates problematic notions of gender for educators who teach The Hunger Games and young-adults who read the text. Educators, primarily middle-school teachers, need assistance when discussing The Hunger Games with students. The employment of the curriculum guide helps teachers counter gender-bias in current published curriculum and perpetuate a gender-inclusive message in their classrooms. The curriculum guide provides teachers with essential topics to discuss about The Hunger Games. Possible responses also help adults and young-adults celebrate both female and male characters in the text equally. The guide also assists educators in identifying problematic gender stereotypes in the novel that can harm young-adult readers. Gender equity training would vastly benefit educators and students. (Carinci, 2007). Only when educators are trained in gender equity can they recognize their own gender bias. The goal of this project was to help educators have gender equitable discussions with young-adults who read Suzanne Collins’ novel The Hunger Games. The curriculum guide (Appendix C) is comprised of direct quotations, post-reading questions, and possible responses. Providing direct quotation from The Hunger Games allows educators to ask questions in context of the novel. Post-reading discussion questions are designed to be open-ended and stimulate conversations between adults and adolescent readers. Finally, possible responses prepare educators to talk about issues of gender in the novel.