The Hunger Games

Suzanne Collins

Dec 2011 · The Hunger Games Series Book 1 · Scholastic

About this ebook

Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with everyone fighting against you? Twenty-four are forced to enter. Only the winner survives. In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Each year, the districts are forced by the Capitol to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the Hunger Games, a brutal and terrifying fight to the death -- televised for all of Panem to see. Survival is second nature for sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who struggles to feed her mother and younger sister by secretly hunting and gathering beyond the fences of District 12. When Katniss steps in to take the place of her sister in the Hunger Games, she knows it may be her death sentence. If she is to survive, she must weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Ratings and reviews

As someone who has come from Battle Royale first I can't help but find this derivative and dumbed down. If the author treated the readers like they might actually have some intelligence (I don't understand where this idea has come from that YA fiction must be dumb) there could be some really interesting political and social satire here.

Not for me. Too heavy on action and light on detail. More like a screenplay script than a complex book. Did not hold my attention or grip me at all, though i know people do rave about this series.

I found the story enjoyable but the short sentences make it feel too fast paced and not in an exciting way. The lack of details and imagery do not help this fact. Overall it is worth a quick read and the story alone does make me want to read the next book.

About the author

Suzanne Collins was born on August 10, 1962. She was born in Hartford, Connecticut and graduated from Indiana University with a double major in Drama and Telecommunications. Collins went on to receive an M.F.A. from New York University in dramatic writing. Since 1991, she has been a writer for children's television shows. She has worked on the staffs of several shows including Clarissa Explains it All, The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo, Little Bear and Oswald. She also co-wrote the Rankin/Bass Christmas special, Santa, Baby! and was the head writer for Scholastic Entertainment's Clifford's Puppy Days. Her books include When Charlie McButton Lost Power, The Underland Chronicles, and the Hunger Games Trilogy. Book one of this trilogy, The Hunger Games, became a major motion picture in 2012 with Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence portraying the main character of Katniss Everdeen. Catching Fire, book 2 of the trilogy, became a major motion picture in 2013. Mockingjay - Part One was released as a film in 2014 and Part Two in 2015.