From Product Description:

In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss's skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place.

I'm a big fan of "Survivor" so I hardly had to read any of the back flap of THE HUNGER GAMES before I was hooked. 24 kids in a fight to the death on live TV sounds gruesome, and it was, but it was also intriguing. I was in Katniss Everdeen's head from the beginning; I felt her desperation and I understood the misery of her life in a future North America that requires adolescent participation in these annual games. Yet I enjoyed her clever survivor skills, her strategies and the little self-discoveries she made along the way. This is a YA book that adults will be just as keen for as kids, though some of the shocking and dreadful parts may be too much for some. My only criticism is that the editor dropped the ball on catching typos, poor sentence structure and fragments. I can take a few fragments now and then when they fit the flow of the story, but sometimes the author, Suzanne Collins, pulled me right out of the action and slapped me with grammatical flotsam and jetsam. Still, it was an excellent read.

I LOOVED this book. I could not put it down. I definitely recommend it to anyone. It's a great quick read and keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time. Well done!

The Hunger Games is book 1 in a YA trilogy written by Suzanne Collins. It is a dystopian story written about future North America after floods, war and famine. The continent is changed into one large super country called Panem that is made up of a large capital and 13 districts, each in a different area that produces a different resource used by the government to control all of the other districts. There was a rebellion in the history of Panem in which district 13 was completely destroyed, leaving 12 districts in fear of what could happen to them at any moment. <br /> <br />Katniss Everdeen is a 16 yr old girl that lives in district 12, the coal district. She has lived a hard life in the harshest district. Katniss lived through her father dying in a mine explosion and her mother turning catatonic after that while she still had a younger sister, Prim, to take care of. The worst is not even close to over to Katniss, though. The day of the reaping is coming. This is where the Capital chooses one boy, 18 and under, and one girl to become the Tributes from each district and these children must fight to the death in a man made arena. The sole survivor is crowned victor and lavished with gifts and food and a new home and their district is given food and oil for the entire year until the next reaping. Whose name gets called out at the reaping? You'll have to read to find out in this electrifying novel that kept me turning pages from beginning to end. <br /> <br />Suzanne Collins take a subject (children being required to kill to survive) that could be so repulsive and turns it into a heart stopping story where you can truly love the good guys and they choose to do what's right and good even in the worst of circumstances. This book is very well written and there is great development to the characters and relationships. I look forard to reading Catching Fire and Mockingjay, (books 2 and 3). I already own both and will start them immediately! So far this series tops my list of favorite YA books. Of course this trilogy is not suited for everyone. It is very dark and there are killings and fighting. Nothing extremely graphic, but enough that you get a really good picture in your head. I MUCH prefer this over the usual YA fare of romantic mush and teenage drama. Katniss is a perfect protagonist. She is incredibly smart and strong, very able bodied and doesn't let her emotions rule her. She has solid relationships and keeps herself in check. I love that Katniss is responsible, not just out of obligation but out of love for her sister and out of a knowledge that she must do what's right and what needs to be done. <br /> <br />I highly recommend the Hunger Games to any dystopian fans or to anyone looking for something new and exciting to read. The good news is the 3rd book was released in August so you can read the entire trilogy at once with no waiting!

I hesitate to do any sort of plot breakdown at this point, because if you read YA you've either read The Hunger Games already, or you've heard everybody and their third cousin telling you to read it. It's kind of like the Lord of the Rings of current YA: you may not have read it, but you definitely know that there's a ring, a long trip, a bunch of little guys, and a wizard. <br /> <br />But though Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark, the future dystopia of Panem (where the evil Capitol city reigns in 23rd-century opulence while the 12 Districts it lords over are struggling with 18th-century subsistence living), and the Hunger Games themselves are well-known, they grow more interesting and significant with every re-read. <br /> <br />For me, one of the best things about THG is the strength of the characters--the book is a study in surprising, unexpected heroism. Katniss herself is a sacrificial hero from the very beginning, when she takes her baby sister's place in the reaping and goes off to the games with dim hopes for survival. But it's not just Katniss that I'm thinking of when I talk about heroism coming from unexpected places. <br /> <br />The District 12 mentor, Haymitch Abernathy, fills me with awe. Under his boorish alcoholic exterior lies a brilliant tactical mind, and you can see the exact moment when he decides that Katniss and Peeta aren't just hopeless schlubs, and that he's going to give a care about training and prepping them to stay alive. Then there's Cinna, Katniss' stylist for the pre-game appearances in the Capitol, who is incredibly heroic: his designs make her beautiful, memorable, confident, and proud (which helps psych her up for staying alive in the games), and he comforts her and holds her hand before she's about to enter the arena. He's a compassionate genius and he helps her unlock her fiery potential--there's no way you can dismiss Cinna as "just" a stylist. <br /> <br />And now we come to Katniss' fellow tribute, Peeta Mellark. Peeta is a beta hero--he's not aggressive, dominant, or dangerous, and he's the kind of guy who's always there when you need him. I can scarcely remember the last time I fell for a beta in fiction (really, there are so few--alpha personalities are fairly standard for leading men in YA or any other genre), but Peeta has earned my loyalty as a reader a hundred times over. On this re-read, tears came to my eyes when Katniss remembers nearly starving to death at age eleven, and the tears sprang up again when she remembers Peeta intentionally burning bread and giving it to her, getting a black eye from his harpy of a mother as punishment. And that was when he was a child--he's even more amazing in the games, and though Katniss has moments of looking down on him because he wasn't raised to hunt or to move around in the forest (as she was) she can't help but appreciate his kindness and sacrificial nature. But he's unusual for other reasons, too. One perplexingly wonderful thing about Peeta is his ability to lie very well. He's sweet and open and honest until he, or someone he loves, needs something. Then he's the smoothest liar you could imagine, and people buy everything he says. <br /> <br />I'd need a lot more space to go into everything about THG that makes my readerly heart go pitter-patter. The plainstyle present-tense narration is riveting, the world-building is convincing in its every detail, and the emotional resonance is extreme: even on my second read-through, a particular death scene had me sobbing my heart out, just as it did the first time. The Hunger Games is a book to read over and over. I hope it touches your heart in the same way it's touched mine.

The Hunger Games might not be the best book I've ever read, but it sure is one of my favorites (and for good reason!). The story, technically speaking, has been done before. If you can look past that (I'm sure most of you don't care much about it), you'll find something that's well worth your while. <br />Read into the story first to see if this is your type of book. Chances are, if you like action or drama in any form, you will greatly enjoy this book. Life in The Hunger Games is essentially a punishment for the rebellion that took place in the past. Now, children between 12 and 18 (I believe) are the victims for the actions of their ancestors. The story is cruel, and some particular scenes are especially violent. Nothing gets worse than PG-13 for those concerned, but don't go into thinking it will be light-hearted at all. This book, if you allow it, can be very, very dark and teases the mind in some disturbing ways. I won't go into too much detail about the events in the Arena here because that's something you need to experience for yourself. <br />Okay, there are some minor things I didn't like. Collins over-did it with the inclusion of all the romance in the middle of the book. It was too unexpected, and the idea got stale after a while. Also, the fact that nobody in the book bothered to start up a revolution was just mind-blowing. Was everybody that scared? I know the second and third books supposedly include this idea, but did it really take 75 years of watching children kill each other before they decided to stand up? The end of the events in the Arena ends very well, and I'll let you know that there ARE some elements of revolution that happen by the end of the book... but still... <br />Anyways, this would make for a very interesting book group choice. ESPECIALLY for teens who like reading. You can bring several religious morals and values into it, and then it gets interesting. After you read the book, ask yourself this: What would you do if YOU were in the Hunger Games? <br />You will lie awake and think about it for weeks.