The Hunger Games

Suzanne Collins. New York: Scholastic Press. 384 pages. ISBN 978-0439023481.

Plot Summary: In the country of Panem, once the United States, there are 12 districts ruled by the Capital. Every year each district must give two teenage tributes to the capital whose role is to fight to the death in the Hunger Games—a nationally televised event which is required watching for all—the ultimate reality TV. When Katniss’s younger sister is chosen as tribute, Katniss jumps to take her place; even though she knows her fate is to kill or be killed.

Against all odds Katniss battles the other contestants, becoming for the reader more human and vulnerable as she fights her adversaries. If she can survive the games her family will be well-provisioned for life. If she dies, however, things will not go well for them. Katniss begins as a cool and calculating figure but learns that to really survive the games she must hold on to her humanity even if the cost is high. What becomes clear to her and the reader is that the real enemy is the governing system that demands such spectacle and obedience.

Critical Evaluation: The Hunger Games is packed with action and thrills and will keep the reader under its spell until the last page. Katniss is a likeable hero, with all too human flaws despite her abilities. The book is, by its very premise, violent, but the violence is not overdone or gratuitous. At the end of the story Katniss’s actions call into challenge the legitimacy of the Capital over its tribute districts and thus the legitimacy of all totalitarian regimes, giving readers food for thought. One potential problem for the reader, however, is the total lack of an ending—making way for the next sequel, but unsatisfying for readers who do not necessarily want to read further.


About the Author: Suzanne Collins has written for children, tweens and young adults. She began writing in children's television and then wrote a series for middle-school children entitled "The Underland Chronicles" about an alternate world under the streets of New York. The Hunger Games is the first part of a planned trilogy.

Her father was in the military when she was a child and his influence can be seen both in the Underland Chronicles and the Hunger Games. The Underland Chronicles are basically a war story with fantastical elements while The Hunger Games tackles such serious issues as hunger, war and corrupt governments. She lives in Connecticut with her husband, two children and cats. Visit her website at http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com/

Genre: Science fiction, dystopia, adventure

Curriculum ties: Possibly English or Social Studies.

Reading level/Interest Age: 15-18

Booktalkng Ideas: Effects of living in totalitarian governments, the effects of poverty vs. overabundance, value of self vs. the group.

Challenge Issues: Violence.

Why Chosen: The Hunger Games won numerous awards including YALSA's top ten list for 2009.