Swoony Boy Alert!! Peeta Mellark (The Hunger Games)
Welcome Back!! It’s time for another Swoony Boy Alert!
So it’s been a little crazy around here. For those of you that missed this post, WE GOT AN AGENT!!! *hands you a sparkly party hat* And to put it mildly, we are… a little excited. OK, we’re THRILLED. Like running around screaming and kissing strangers thrilled (only a few protested). And as you might have guessed, it’s thrown our scheduling off a bit but NEVER FEAR, we’re back to our A-game and ready to share the swoon.
This weeks swoony boy was supposed to be Étienne St. Clair, because he is lovely and delicious and pronounces her name Ah-na. BUT BUT BUT…THEN. I. SAW. THIS.
And OMG I DIED A LITTLE. *presses replay* *presses replay again* *Lo comes in and takes away my YouTube privileges* Can you say fangirl scream? Yeah. So we’ll just ask Étienne to scootch over to next week while we make room for Peeeeeeeta. Don’t worry, Étienne doesn’t mind.
[And a note (because this is srsly too lulzy to keep all too myself): when my husband watched the trailer, his first words were,” THAT’S NOT THE RIGHT BACKPACK! OMG IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE ORANGE!” Someone get that man a cookie.] [Lo dies of giggles and her love for Mr. PQ just ratcheted up abouuuuut 5,000 points]
OKAY. For the newcomers: What are Swoony Boy Alerts, you ask? SBA’s are reoccurring posts in which we, and you, YES YOU, pretty, smart reader, gather around a cup of tea/coffee/something with whipped cream on it, and swoon over our favorite male characters in fiction. They can be old faves (Gilbert Blythe -why yes, I went there), or new boys we’re meeting for the first time.
For the five people in the universe that don’t know about The Hunger Games, here’s some background: In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.
Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
To Katniss, Peeta has always been the boy with the bread. He’s the son of the towns only baker, which makes him wealthier and better fed than most people in District 12. When Katniss is 11, sitting in the mud and on the verge of starvation, Peeta throws her two loaves of burned bread. It’s only later that she discovers he burned the loaves on purpose (earning a beating for doing so), because he knew that the loaves would be discarded. It is this single act of kindness that saves both Katniss and her family, changing the way she views survival.
And this sums up so much of Peeta’s character because he’s just. so. good. That seems like such a crazy simple way of saying it, but it’s true. Peeta is pure and love and all that is good. He’s not your typical swoony boy – he’s not a bad boy with a sexy smirk and tons of one-liners – it’s just the entirety of who he is that makes him SWOONY.
I’m coming back into focus when Caesar asks him if he has a girlfriend back home. Peeta hesitates, then gives an unconvincing shake of his head.
“Handsome lad like you. There must be some special girl. Come on, what’s her name?” says Caesar.
Peeta sighs. “Well, there is this one girl. I’ve had a crush on her ever since I can remember. But I’m pretty sure she didn’t know I was alive until the reaping.”
Sounds of sympathy from the crowd. Unrequited love they can relate to.
“She have another fellow?” asks Caesar.
“I don’t know, but a lot of boys like her,” says Peeta.
“So, here’s what you do. You win, you go home. She can’t turn you down then, eh?” says Caesar encouraging-ly.
“I don’t think it’s going to work out. Winning…won’t help in my case,” says Peeta.
“Why ever not?” says Caesar, mystified.
Peeta blushes beet red and stammers out. “Because…because…she came here with me.”
And because it seems to be the perfect plan, Peeta and Katniss pretend to be in love, hoping it will earn them favor with the sponsors. BUT, we the reader know that it isn’t just a show for Peeta, who has in fact been in love with Katniss since the age of 5. OMG AWWWWW, RIGHT?
“I remember everything about you. You’re the one who wasn’t paying attention.”
And did I mention that he’s a blonde? Because that’s sort of my kryptonite. I’m beginning to realize I have a lot of those…
SOOO, I know there is a LOT more to say, but we want to know what YOU love about Peeta. Or even Gale because TRUST, he will have his own post. What are your favorite scenes? What did you think of the trailer? Did it make you more or less excited? Will you be in the ticket line next to me on March 23rd? Leave us your thoughts, your questions, your giggles over my husband’s flailing, or even your cookie recipes.
We’ll select one lucky winner who gets a copy of Peeta, er… I mean a book of YOUR choice. That’s right, any YA book ($25 or under, please) You could totally pick SHATTER ME, if you wanted, which is ON SALE NOW. Just sayin’. [Lo reminds the world that she gets to see Tahereh tonight and dole out BIG GIANT HUGGLES]. I know Josh Hutcherson isn’t the perfect Peeta for some readers, but he’s really growing on me. THOUGHTS?
