Suzanne Collins.
Scholastic Inc.
384 pages. 2008. 
ISBN: 9780439023528

The author of The Hunger Games is Suzanne Collins and the book’s genre is Science Fiction.  The first person narrator is Katniss Everdeen.  The setting of the novel is in an unspecified future in the post-apocalyptic country of Panem “that rose up out of the ashes of a place once called North America."
 
The novel is about 24 teenagers (one boy, one girl) that are chosen from each district(12 districts) to compete in a deathmatch until there is only one winner.  The major and minor characters of the novel are Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark, Haymitch Abernathy, Primrose Everdeen, Gale Hawthorne, Effie Trinket, Cinna, Clove, Rue, and Cato.  Katniss Everdeen is a 16-year old girl that is very skinny, but quick and agile.  She is a very good hunter and is skilled with a bow & arrow.  She’s also caring, especially for her sister, Prim (Primrose Everdeen). Peeta Mellark is a 16-year old boy that is stocky and big.  His father is a baker, so he helps with carrying and baking bread, which contributes to his stockiness.  He has a secret crush on Katniss.  Haymitch is a previous winner of the games, as well as trainer of Katniss and Peeta.  Haymitch is an alcoholic and is usually drunk and unstable, but in certain parts of the story, he pulls through when Katniss and Peeta both need him.  Peeta Mellark reminds me of myself because he is very nice and is stocky like me.  And, we both have crushes.  I am like Katniss, because I am pretty proficient with a bow & arrow.
 
After Katniss’ dad died in a coal mining accident in District 12(where they live), Katniss takes care of her family. On the day of the reaping, Prim(her sister) gets chosen for the games. Katniss steps in her place. She can’t bear to let Prim fight and most likely, die.  The other tribute from District 12 is Peeta Mellark, who secretly has a crush on Katniss.  They get taken to the Hunger Games Training Center to prepare and get judged by the Gamemakers to get overall scores between 1-12.  That score may determine how many sponsors they get that will help them survive in the arena.  Later on, Peeta declares his love for Katniss during their interviews.  After the games start, they go their separate ways and try to survive. The Gamemakers change a rule during the games so that if both tributes  from the same district survive, they will both win.  Soon after, Katniss finds Peeta and they team up to fight the other remaining tributes (Cato, Clove,Thresh, Foxface).  There is a fight at the Cornucopia and Thresh kills Clove.  Katniss and Peeta flee from the scene and soon find out that Cato killed Thresh.  Foxface dies by eating poisonous berries called nightlock.  Cato, Katniss, and Peeta are the last three left.  Katniss and Peeta go to the Cornucopia and fight Cato, after being chased by muttations (mutated canines) that look like the other dead tributes.  Cato is killed by the muttations.  At the end of the games, they change the rule back to one winner.  Not being able to kill one another, they each grab a nightlock and slowly place it in their mouths, knowing that there has to be a winner.  The Gamemakers stop them just in time and they win the games!  After being rehabilitated, they find out that the Capitol is mad for Katniss pulling a dirty trick like that.  There will be repercussions and there soon will be bitter conflict.  

The theme of The Hunger Games is keeping your humanity and dignity as you try to survive.  Do not lose your head surviving, because you will soon lose your life or people you care about.  I believe this is the theme of the story because when Katniss’ dad died, Katniss had to take care of her family.  If she lost her humanity and/or her dignity after her father died, her family would have died, along with her.  Also, in the book, the author states, ”There was a guy like that a few years ago from District 6 called Titus.  He went completely savage and the Gamemakers had to have him stunned with electric guns to collect the bodies of the players he’d killed before he ate them.  There are no rules in the arena, but cannibalism doesn’t play well with the Capitol audience, so they tried to head it off.  There was some speculation that the avalanche that finally took Titus out was specifically engineered to ensure the victor was not a lunatic.”  This quote shows that Titus lost his humanity and died soon after.
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I think that the Hunger Games was a really good book.  It was full of action and suspense at every turn.  I would recommend this book to a more mature audience, about 13+, because there was some gore involved in the book.  Overall, it was really exciting to read and I believe anyone who reads this book will be hooked all the way through it!
 

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