The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, is a thrilling story of 16 year-old Katniss Everdeen. Taking place in a futuristic North American country named, Panem, she chooses to make the ultimate sacrifice for her family.   The government of Panem holds a reaping every year to remind its twelve districts of how small and powerless they are. During this reaping, each district draws the name of one boy and one girl between the ages of 12-18 to go to the Capitol and fight in the Hunger Games. Fight the other 24 teens from the other districts to the death.  After  Katniss's sister's name is drawn, she volunteers to go and fight her place. She does so knowing that there can only be one winner of the games, and she would have to kill 23 other people in order to survive the hunger games.

The story follows Katniss as she prepares for the games and as she makes her way through the games. Readers will be hooked and won't be able to put the book down. This book is great for anyone who likes action, thrillers, stories of survival, and possibly a little romance. The author also deals with culturally relevant issues such as reality tv, the desensitization of our society to violence and the value of human life.  These topics make the book appropriate for 7th graders and up. 

This novel will not only have you on the edge of your seat, wondering what Katniss is going to do next, but will also have you thinking our society today and the characteristics they share.  The author did a great job creating this fictional world, and developing characters that I could relate to on some level. I also thought it was really cool that I really felt like I got to know the characters through Katniss's thoughts and descriptions! So much so, that I actually found myself tearing up at different points in the story.  I would strongly recommend this novel to anyone! There is some difficult vocabulary throughout the novel, but overall was an easy read! The best part...the end of this book is not the end! There are two sequels - Catching Fire and Mockingjay - Can't wait to read them next!