138. The Hunger Games (book one of a trilogy) by Suzanne Collins

Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with every one out to make sure you don't live to see the morning?

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before - and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win,she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Katniss lives in District 12, which encompasses Appalachia, has 8,000 residents, and is the poorest district. Katniss lives in the extreme poverty of the Seam, rather than the comfort of town. Her father died in a coal mine accident, leaving Katniss to take care of her depressed mother and her younger sister Prim. When her mother did not recover from losing their dad, the girls ran out of food. They were starving, drinking hot water with mint leaves to try to trick their stomachs into feeling full. Desperate and on the verge of death, Katniss tried to find food in the dumpster behind the town bakery. The baker's wife yelled at her and tried to drive her off. Then Katniss heard more yelling inside, and the baker's son came out the back, a fresh welt on his face, with two loaves of slightly burnt bread, and threw them to her. That bread saved the lives of Katniss, her mother, and her sister. Katniss never forgot that kindness, and always felt she owed her life to Peeta, the boy with the bread.

Shortly after that, Katniss got the courage to leave the district, and go under a fence and into the woods. She learned how to hunt game and gather berries, roots, and edible plants. Those foods kept her family from going hungry again. Katniss made friends with another hunter, Gale, who was trying to feed a family of five. Katniss isn't sure of her feelings for Gale, and denies his request to run away and live in the woods. The districts all must participate yearly in the Hunger Games, where two kids between the ages of twelve and eighteen represent each district as tributes. During the Reaping, against all odds, Katniss' twelve year old sister Prim's name was drawn. Katniss volunteers to go in her sister's place. The boy drawn was Peeta, who saved her life years earlier with the bread. Katniss knows that she and Peeta will have to compete against 22 other kids, and she's upset that she might end up having to kill the boy she owes her life to.

The Hunger Games are the capitol's way of keeping the districts in check and scared. Some districts consider competition in the Games an honor, and train kids for it their whole lives. The winner gets a house and extra food for everyone in their district. In all the years of the Games, District 12 has only had two winners. One of them, Haymitch, is Katniss & Peeta's handler. He crafts a story in which the two kids are in love, in the hopes of getting them sponsors to send medicine, food, and other gifts. The beginning of the Games is a free for all, in which the 24 kids dash into a circle full of equipment, trying to gather supplies, but get massacred in the process. Half the opponents die the first day. Katniss is unable to get the bow and arrow she wants, because she's been told to hide in the woods and find a water source. She sleeps in trees, gathers edible plants, and hunts game, hoping to wait out the competition. The problem is that many of the strongest kids have banded together and are hunting her.

During the course of the Games, she finds unexpected allies, gets hurt, watches people she cares about die, kills people, and more. She deals with fire, stabbings, poisoning, floods, starvation, sickness, drought, landmines, spearings, genetically mutated animals, among other things. She also has to pretend to be in love with Peeta so the sponsors will send gifts, but does not realize Peeta might not be pretending to love her. The book is very suspenseful and action packed. It's awesome read and I highly recommend it. The only issue I had was the ending - it was uneventful. This book is the first of a trilogy, but really could have been a standalone. I am not even sure what they will be dealing with in the second book, but I doubt it could be as scary and edge-of-my-seat as this book was. I want to own this book though, and will be looking for book two, Catching Fire, on September 1st, especially since I have no idea what adventures the next book could possibly hold, and that's kind of cool.



Hunger Games trilogy read order:
1. The Hunger Games
2. Catching Fire
3. ?