The Hunger Games

I read the last lines of The Hunger Games Friday evening wishing that I had my copy of Catching Fire at home, rather than at the school. Yet, in some ways it was good that it was not on hand because it was already the middle of the night and it would have been tempting enough to keep me from sleeping! A classmate in my summer YA Lit class was talking about how the book is an example of a cross over, written for teens but catching a lot of interest in adults as well.

The premise is chilling, somewhere in the future located in Panem (present day North America) are twelve districts under tight control of the government. After a group of citizens staged a rebellion earlier in the country's history, the capital squelched their efforts and created The Hunger Games in order to remind citizens just how little control they have in comparison to the capital. Every year a boy and a girl from each district has to compete in a reality TV show, fighting to the death, and the last one living is the victor. Katniss Everdeen stands in for her younger sister who was selected, along with the baker's son in her community.

Suzanne Collins crafted a page turner maintaining the reader's interest with the horror of it all as we see the multi-layered experience through Katniss' eyes, seeing her feelings about being placed in a position between humanity and survival. Various relationships and emotions came to life with vivid descriptions, along with exploring power relationships. It's one of those books that I don't think I could ever do justice in describing, one that you need to read to see all the layers and is filled with opportunities for rich discussion.

Read here to see how my students are responding to the book.