📚😴 READING BEFORE BED VS. SCROLLING BEFORE BED: What’s Better for Sleep?

‘The Hunger Games’ can help you sleep, believe it or not! 🛌

Right now, 10 of my students are reading The Hunger Games — some of them right before bed! And this made me think about something important: what we do before sleep really changes how well we sleep. 🌙

When you read a book before bed, your brain relaxes. The light from a book is soft, and your mind slowly gets tired as you follow the story. Reading The Hunger Games at night is actually a great choice — it’s exciting, but it doesn’t give you the same “shock” to your brain that a phone does. You finish a chapter, feel sleepy, and drift off naturally. 💤

Now compare that to watching YouTube, scrolling through social media, or “doom scrolling” (when you keep scrolling and scrolling, even when it makes you feel bad or anxious). Phone screens send out blue light, and blue light tells your brain, “Wake up! It’s still daytime!” This makes it harder to fall asleep. Also, social media often shows us fast, exciting, or stressful content, so instead of calming your mind, it keeps your brain active and alert. 📱⚡

Doom scrolling is especially bad. You tell yourself, “just five more minutes,” but suddenly an hour has passed, and your brain is full of information instead of ready for rest. 😩

So here’s my advice, especially for my Hunger Games readers: put the phone away, pick up the book, and read a chapter or two before bed. Your brain — and your sleep — will thank you. 😊

📚🍻BOOKS ‘n BEER: HUNGER GAMES DISCUSSION 2

Had another discussion at the bar for ‘The Hunger Games’ this weekend. It was a good time AND: of course, my rating of 5/5 Stars still stands! Typically, the more I talk about a book, the more I like it. The Hunger Games is no exception. I am looking forward to further discussion with my ten student readers! 🧐🥳🧠 No BEER in class of course!

HUNGER GAMES: SUNRISE ON THE REAPING:

📚🍻BOOKS ‘n BEER: 🏹🔥🍞THE HUNGER GAMES

🍞 May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor 🍞

The Hunger Games… I had been meaning to read it for years.  I just finished it for the first time.  I do like a good dystopia. The book was interesting, action packed and the it is well written. But, how good was it?

I have read these other dystopias and enjoyed them. Where does “The Hunger Games” fit on this list of amazing classics??? :

1984 by Orwell,
Fahrenheit 451 by Bradbury,
We by Zamyatin,
Brave New World by Huxley,
In Watermelon Sugar by Brautigan,
The Man in the High Castle by PK Dick,
The Handmaid’s Tale by Atwood,
Animal Farm by Orwell,
The Trial by Kafka

The answer IS: 

The Hunger Games is as good as any of them. ‘The book is a modern classic! Its numbers/readers are so high (10M Ratings on Goodreads) for a reason: It has EVERYTHING: human drama, love, political intrigue, survival, fashion, pageantry, hunting, rich vs poor, evil, stupidity, terror, bla bla bla! YOU name it. 😊

And here’s the thing that puts it right up there with the classics above: most dystopias make you think. The Hunger Games makes you think AND keeps you turning pages. Orwell and Huxley built the blueprint — the surveillance, the propaganda, the control of truth and pleasure — but Collins took that blueprint and handed it to a sixteen-year-old girl with a bow and arrow, and somehow made it feel just as urgent, just as sharp, and fun to read.

So where does it fit on the list? Not as the ‘also ran’ book, tucked at the end out of politeness. Right in the middle, shoulder to shoulder with Orwell and Atwood, earning its spot the honest way — by being genuinely great. A modern classic, no asterisk needed! 🏹🔥

🏹🏅8 STUDENTS READING ‘THE HUNGER GAMES’!

I am happy to report that eight of my students are reading ‘The Hunger Games’ this month. I say ‘this month’ but there is no time limit. Or is there??😉 Perhaps this will turn into a ‘Hunger Games’ kind of competition to finish reading, ‘The Hunger Games.’

I recently finished the book and it is a great read! It is level B2 English and perfect for students. 5/5 stars!⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Good luck to all students and MAY THE ODDS BE EVER IN YOUR FAVOR!

🔥🏹 THE HUNGER GAMES BOOK 1: TOP 20 VOCABULARY CHALLENGE! 🌲🎯

For this month’s ‘Hunger Games’ readers! :

🔥🏹 THE HUNGER GAMES BOOK 1: TOP 20 ULTIMATE VOCABULARY🌲🎯

Apothecary (uh-PAH-thuh-kair-ee) 🌿💊 Definition: An old-fashioned term for a pharmacist or a shop where medicines are made and sold.

Insurmountable (in-sur-MOUN-tuh-bul) 🏔️🚫 Definition: Impossible to overcome or defeat.

Entrails (EN-traylz) 🥩🩸 Definition: The inner organs or guts of a person or animal.

Tenuous (TEN-yoo-us) 🧵🕸️ Definition: Very weak, uncertain, or flimsy.

Demeanor (dih-MEEN-er) 🎭👤 Definition: A person’s outward behavior, conduct, or manner.

Barbarism (BAR-buh-riz-um) ⚔️🦁 Definition: Cruel, uncivilized, or brutal behavior.

Arduous (AR-joo-us) 🧗‍♂️💦 Definition: Requiring a lot of hard work and physical effort; difficult.

Ruminate (ROO-muh-nayt) 🧠💭 Definition: To think deeply or ponder about something for a long time.

Patronizing (PAY-truh-ny-zing) 🙄👑 Definition: Talking down to someone in a condescending way that shows you think you are smarter or superior.

Precarious (pruh-KAIR-ee-us) 🪵⚠️ Definition: Unsafe, unstable, or dangerously likely to fall.

Eradicate (ih-RAD-ih-kayt) 💥💣 Definition: To completely destroy, eliminate, or wipe out.

Rendezvous (RAHN-day-voo) 🗺️📍 Definition: A planned meeting at an agreed time and place.

Copse (KOPS) 🌳🌲 Definition: A small thicket or small group of trees growing closely together.

Decadent (DEK-uh-dunt) 🍰💎 Definition: Overly luxurious, self-indulgent, or showing low moral standards.

Despondent (dih-SPAHN-dunt) 😭🌧️ Definition: Feeling deeply hopeless, sad, or discouraged.

Pariah (puh-RY-uh) 🚫👥 Definition: A social outcast; someone who is despised and avoided by everyone.

Dissipate (DIS-ih-payt) 💨🌫️ Definition: To slowly break up, scatter, or disappear.

Scrupulous (SKROO-pyuh-lus) 🔍✍️ Definition: Extremely careful, thorough, and attentive to doing things correctly and honestly.

Arbitrary (AR-bih-trair-ee) 🎲❓ Definition: Based on random choice or personal whim rather than logic or reason.

Insidious (in-SID-ee-us) 🐍🤫 Definition: Harmful or dangerous in a gradual, quiet, or secret way.