DD8 picked up the Hunger Games that DH had bought to read for himself and ended up reading all three books very quickly--but does not seem at all disturbed and has not had nightmares or recurring anxiety (about that--although she has been having daily crises about random stuff, like today 'will I be able to get into a good college'?).
My DD9 BEGGED me to read the Hunger Games (she was in a gr. 4/5 split at school and insisted that "everyone" had seen the movie). I finally agreed that she could read the book, but not see the movie. So far she's not shown any anxiety from the content. I read it as well so that I would know what she's reading, and we've talked about it. She wants to read the remaining two books in the trilogy (and so do I), so we're keeping our eyes out for them (so far I've only seen them in hard cover).
When DD9 and DS8 were younger I tried sheltering them from content - now I find it easier just to talk frankly about it. If they have questions, I want to be the one to answer them, not some random kid in the school yard.
At the moment they're watching "Jaws" with their Dad. We recently returned from a trip to Disneyland and Universal Studios, where they saw the fake shark, so they're getting a kick out of the movie (DS8 is asking a ton of questions though, lol)
