The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Collins, S. (2008). The hunger games. New York: Scholastic Press.
ISBN-10 0439023483
ISBN-13 978-0439023481
384 pgs
Format: Book
Genre: Adventure
Classification: Fiction
Age level: Young Adult

Reader's annotation
Katniss lives with her mother and younger sister in an impoverished district of Panem, a country that exists in what used to be the United States. When her younger sister is chosen to fight in the annual Hunger Games at the Capitol, Katniss volunteers to go in her places, even though she faces an almost certain death. The Hunger Games is a brutal, televised competition in which the last child left alive is the winner.

Summary
Sixteen-year-old Katniss is used to struggling for survival as for years she has helped to feed her mother and younger sister by foraging and hunting in the woods near their home and trading with merchants in town. When her little sister has her name drawn to participate in the annual Hunger Games at the Capitol, a brutal televised children’s competition, Katniss volunteers to go in her place. Along with her teammate, the baker’s son Peeta, she travels from a remote district to the Capitol to fight for her life as the nation follows every move. Set in a future in a North American country called Panem that has been degraded by environmental catastrophe, poverty and conflict, The Hunger Games takes our voyeuristic society to a horrifying new level in this suspenseful story.

Notes
The Hunger Games is a thought-provoking and entertaining recreational read for older teens. Katniss is a wonderful character, smart and resourceful, and Peeta brings humanity to the story with his kindness. The story takes some of the defining features of our time, environmental decay and reality television, and mixes it with a lot of imagination and detail to create a believable novel that leaves the reader with food for thought. This is the first novel in a trilogy; the other titles have not been published yet.

Awards and honors
Cybils Award for YA Fantasy and Science Fiction 2008
2009 ALA Best Books for Young Adults Top 10

Series title
The Hunger Games (2008)
Catching Fire (2009)

Also by Suzanne Collins
The Underland Chronicles Series

Also recommended
Graceling by Kristin Cashore