The Chatterbox | February 22

File under: “Hot topics”

• Check out the avalanche of stories triggered by findings on gender identity in the medical journal Pediatrics.

• If you haven’t yet heard, more than 20 people including eight children were found living in a 1,700 square-foot home near Houston by a social worker. None of the story’s scant details so far are pretty but the cold comfort is that these kids hopefully have chances now at a better life.

• A fascinating article in The New York Times examines why women in their second trimester are considered the “holy grail” of shoppers, and how companies devote tons of statistical and programming resources toward targeting them.

• We warned you earlier this year that The Hunger Games marketing machine was about to kick into high gear. If you’ve got a kid at home suddenly begging to take you to Aurora’s Westfield Fox Valley Mall, here’s why: Cast members from the upcoming film will be there, including star Josh Hutcherson. As his youngest co-star, Amandla Stenberg, told us last December, “All the kids in my class were reading [the books] and talking about how good they were.”

File under: “Right now we want”

• Two shout-outs worth repeating from Robert Loerzel for Crain’s: Office-appropriate maternity wear, designed in Wisconsin and made in Chicago, and a locally developed iPad app that keeps web surfing kid-friendly.