13. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic, 2008)

GENRE: Science Fiction / Dystopian / Adventure

HONORS: Charlotte Award, Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award, Cybil Award, Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award, Evergreen Young Adult Book Award, Garden State Teen Book Award, Golden Archer Award, Grand Canyon Reader Award, Heartland Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature, Red House Children’s Book Award, School Library Journal Battle of the Kids’ Books, Silver Inky Award, Thumbs Up! Award, Virginia Readers’ Choice Award, West Australian Young Readers’ Book Award, Young Readers’ Choice Award

REVIEW:

Where North America once existed, the country of Panem is divided into twelve districts with the Capitol ruling over them.  Because of a previous rebellion against the government, the Capitol holds a televised competition every year as a demonstration of their power called the Hunger Games, requiring one boy and one girl from each of the districts between the ages of twelve and eighteen to fight in an outdoor arena until only one is alive.  When sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen’s younger sister is chosen for District 12, she immediately offers herself up instead.  Paired with the baker’s son, Peeta Mellark, Katniss knows that she cannot get too close to him if she wants to win.  In addition to relying on her survival skills, Katniss realizes that she must abandon her reverence for humanity in order to save her own life.

OPINION:

I absolutely loved this book, but it took me a few chapters to get hooked.  Having heard about this book from both friends and reviewers, I had high expectations from the start, so this may be the reason that the beginning seemed a bit slow.  However, The Hunger Games is one of those books that it is impossible to put down once Katniss is thrown into the arena.  Because Katniss spends a lot of time hiding by herself, readers are able to experience things from her perspective, keeping them on their toes and constantly wondering what will happen next just as Katniss is doing in the novel.  In this way, readers can identify with Katniss and understand her decisions when she is forced into moral dilemmas.  There is a slight presence of a love triangle with Katniss wondering if Peeta’s feelings are genuine or for show and questioning her own feelings for her hunting partner back at home.  Because Gale has a very small role in this novel, I imagine that the second and third books will bring this love triangle to the forefront.  Although there is obviously violence in the novel, I did not strike me as too gory for tween readers, but I would not recommend this book to readers that are sensitive to violence and death.

IDEAS:

Because the film version is due to release early next year, this would be a great book to include in a library display featuring tween novels that have been adapted into films.  Also, this could be used for a science fiction display, showcasing the several different subgenres for tween readers.