Mockingjay

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, 2010 Scholastic Press

     After she's taken from the Arena in her second Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen is spirited to the long-lost District 13. There she recovers and learns she is to be the face of the revolution. The only problem is President Coin seems to want to maintain the status quo rather than improve the lives of Panem's people.
      When Peta appears to be supporting the government, Katniss is hard-pressed to protect him from the eradication Coin has planned. Only by agreeing to be the Mockingjay can she save him, and so begins Katniss's activism.
      She disobeys orders and fights for the people of her nation, district by district her honest actions win over the people. When Katniss is nearly killed during the siege of the Capitol's final stronghold the people rise to defend her--she has not challenged them, but given the dissatisfied a point to rally behind.
     When the time comes to battle the Capitol within its own bounds Katniss is held back. Haymitch notes that she is a tool, one with an expiration date if she does not support the new regime whole-heartedly. When given the chance to defect and take matters into her own hands the Mockingjay takes her tribe into the heart of battle and fights for the future.
     Like the books preceding it, Mockingjay is a bloody battle for supremacy, rather than subtle maneuvering and manipulation with the Hunger Games Panem breaks out into full-blown civil war and rebellion. The story is not meant for young children or readers who are uncomfortable with gore--it is more suited to older teens and young adults with its graphic violence.

Catching Fire

Catching Fire by Susanne Collins, 2009 Schoolastic Press

     After she and Peeta rewrote history and won the Hunger Games Katniss Everdeen returned home to the Seam in District 12. Her supposed relationship with Peeta broke into her friendship with Gale, but they soon fell into an uneasy facsimile of their association before the Games. Now it's time for the Victory Tour throughout Panem when President Snow personally visits Katniss reminding her of the power he has over the people she loves.
     With the threat of her family's life hanging over her head Katniss is charged with pacifying the rebellion throughout the districts. When expressing her heartfelt gratitude leads to the death of denizens throughout the districts and open rebellion, Katniss must deal with consequences she had no claim to. The Quarter Quell, a special form of the Games that happens every twenty-five years, is announced President Snow reveals the tributes for the seventy-fifth Hunger Games will be chosen from the previous winners.
     Katniss goes back into the Arena.
     But will she survive the other survivors' attacks? Her only hope is to keep Peeta alive, willing to die so he can continue the rebellion she has begun. After she makes an agreement with Haymitch to fight for Peeta's survival Katniss is stunned when things in the Arena go wrong. Katniss and Peeta, along with the rest of the districts don't know everything that's happening in Panem, but they know enough to want to fight what has put them in such a difficult spot.

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.