The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, 2008 Schoolastic Press

     Life in the Seam is not easy for anyone, but Katniss Everdeen had discovered a way to support her family and her community through illegal hunting. Along with her friend Gale she supplies meat to the black market and life is bearable. When the annual Hunger Games rolls around, the people of District 12 living along the Seam are hesitant to allow the Capitol to reap their children for the annual fight to the death.
     The champions of the Hunger Games lives in splendor and luxury for the remainder of their lives, but at the cost of their humanity. In order to win the contestant must defeat the remaining Tributes--two teens from each of the twelve districts of Panem--and win the Games. Success would mean Katniss's family's survival, but it could also mean her death--when her young sister is called the first year she is eligible Katniss knows she must volunteer to save her mother's sanity and younger sister's life.
     Along with the baker's son, Peeta Mellark, Katniss goes into the arena defiant and hoping to survive long enough to mean something, but expecting nothing. When her one alliance is destroyed Katniss Everdeen is intent on getting back at the Capitol any way she can. Through luck and the survival skills she and Gale developed beyond the borders of District 12, Katniss manages to make it to the last, bringing Peeta with her. In one last strike at the Capitol and its games Katniss and Peeta threaten mutual suicide and are allowed to live.
     The Hunger Games is not a love story, it is the beginning of a revolution against a government which reminds its populace of its superiority by destroying the humanity of the next generation. The Games are a power tool used to keep the defeated districts under control and Katniss is the spark that lights the fire. The book is not suited for younger readers with vivid violence and psychological manipulation, teens and more mature readers will understand the story's nuances and appreciate its complex commentary.