The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games
Author: Suzanne Collins
Publisher/Date: Scholastic Press 2008
# of Pages: 374
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Science Fiction

Summary:

This is a story about a girl named Katniss living with her sister, Prim, and her widowed mother in District 12. There are 13 Districts, but District 13 got destroyed for rebelling against the capital. Once a year the capital holds what is called The Hunger Games. They are a reminder of the power the capital has over the Districts so that another rebellion doesn't happen. The story begins on the day of the drawing for The Hunger Games. Prim is scared that she will be drawn, but Katniss isn't too worried about her. She's more worried about her friend, Gale, who has a much bigger chance of his name being drawn. When the drawing takes place, Prim's name is drawn for the girl, but Katniss volunteers to take her place. The boy that is drawn is a boy named Peeta who once gave Katniss some bread when she was starving for some food. They become the two representatives from District 12. There are two drawn from each District. They go to the Capital where they are treated very well. They are made to look attractive so that they can get people to sponsor them in the Games. They have to show their special talents. Katniss is a very good archer. They also are subject to interviews. During Peeta's interview it is made known that he is in love with Katniss. She is upset because she thinks he is only doing this to get sponsored. However, she goes along with the two lovers act. Once the games begin, all the representatives/tributes are put into the arena. Their main objective is to kill everyone else, and to be the last one standing. If they win, they get fame and fortune for them and their families. Most of the tributes go on their own except for a group called the Careers. They pact together to hunt down the others. Peeta joins them. The tributes get killed off one by one. At one point Katniss drops a nest of killer wasps on the Careers. They get stung, including Peeta, but he also saves her life. She is very confused, but she kills one of the Careers herself. She teams up with a small girl named Rue. They make a plan to steal the supplies from the Careers. Katniss finds a way to blow up their supplies, but she damages her hearing, and Rue gets killed by another tribute. This is really hard on her, and she kills Rue's killer with the bow and arrow she has stolen. Then the announcement is made that if two tributes from the same District are left alive at the end, then both of them can win. Katniss decides she should go find Peeta. She finds him barely alive, and she nurses him back to health all the while pretending to be in love with him for the camera. She is rewarded with medicine and food by her sponsors when she plays her part well enough. Finally, there are only three of them left. The Gamemakers force them to come to the lake to battle it out, and they send strange dog-like animals too. The dogs attack and kill the last tribute which leaves Peeta and Katniss. They then change the rules so that they have to kill each other, but both refuse and are about to kill themselves when they are stopped, and are taken back to the Capital, both as winners. However, the Capital is angry that they outsmarted them, but Katniss and Peeta are still counted as the winners. Peeta finds out that Katniss was only pretending to be in love with him, and he is sad because he wasn't pretending. The story ends with them arriving back at District 12 to be continued...

Who would benefit from reading this book?

Young adult readers would enjoy this book. I don't know that it would be appropriate for young children under 10 to read. It's definitely for a more mature audience. I even think adults would benefit as well. I found it very enjoyable, and the vocabulary wasn't too simple for me to enjoy.

What problems/conflicts could this book potentially cause?

This book is contains very intense elements. It is very dramatic with the people starving, and being abused by their government. Also in the Games, there is a lot of killing and violence. This book would not be good for young readers.

My Reaction:

I was a bit surprised by the story line. I had no idea it was going to be so intense and violent. However, I liked the story a lot. It was very intriguing and different. It was hard to put the book down because the story was so interesting, I wanted to know what was going to happen next. I really liked the romantic part of the story. I found myself falling for Peeta. I think it was very well written, even though I don't particularly enjoy when it's written in present tense. I can't wait until I can read the sequel!