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 - David Shankbone
Monday, May 07, 2012 By Noura Mahmoud '14
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Most of us know of Suzanne Collins, the famous author. She started her career writing children's television shows in 1991. She has worked on several Nickelodeon shows, including the Emmy-nominated hit Clarissa Explains it All and The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo. When she was working on the kids WB show called Generation O, she met James Proimos, a children’s author, who convinced her to write children’s books. She was thinking about that, which got her thinking about Alice in Wonderland. She thought how in New York City you’re much more likely to fall in a manhole not a rabbit hole, and that’s what Gregor the Overlander, the first book in her five-part fantasy/war series, is about.
Suzanne Collins’ next series is the Hunger Games trilogy. Many of us know this series and love it. The first book is Hunger Games and it talks about 12 districts and every year they pick two tributes, a boy and a girl from each district, and they fight to the death in a game and whoever wins can be rich. Catching Fire is the second book and starts with the victors of district 12, Peeta and Katniss, who will be going to the Captiol for the victory tour, but the problem is their love. The last book is Mockingjay, which is about Katniss Everdeen the girl on fire that survived even though her home was destroyed and the revolution is disbanded.
Suzanne Collins was interviewed by Jen Rees at Scholastic Press. According to the interview, when asked about the Gregor series as to why Gregor could have traveled to the Underland? Collins liked the fact that this world was “teeming under New York City and nobody was aware of it. That you could be going along preoccupied with your own problems and then whoosh! You take a wrong turn in your laundry room and suddenly a giant cockroach is right in your face. No magic, no space or time travel, there’s just a ticket to another world behind your clothes dryer.” She was also asked if there was anything she finds/found difficult or challenging in writing from the perspective of an 11-year-old boy. She remembers being eleven very clearly and she had a lot of friends who were boys so it felt pretty natural being in Gregor’s head. She thinks that she’s like Gregor because they both want to do the right thing, but sometimes have trouble figuring out what it is. Also, neither of them likes to ride roller coasters and they’ve both changed a lot of diapers. But Gregor is much braver than she is…if she even sees a regular sized rat in New York City, she would immediately cross the street.
Suzanne Collins is an everyday person with a creative mind and a great writer. If you want to know more information about Suzanne Collins check her interview on http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com/events.htm.
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