I'm not usually one to ignore juvenile fiction books but, for some reason, these didn't make it onto my radar until I had to read the first one for a librarian's book discussion. I picked up the first book on a Saturday afternoon. By 11:30 that night, I was downloading the second book in the series onto my e-book reader and if it weren't for a little thing called work, I'd have finished the third book sometime on Monday.
The premise: Sometime in the future, North America only stretches from the Rockies to the Applachians after tornadoes, earthquakes, melting polar ice caps and war have done their work. The country is called Panem and it had a capital in the Rockies and 13 districts. Seventy five years ago, the districts rebelled, District 13 was destroyed, and the Capital instituted The Hunger Games. Every year, starting at age 12, the teenagers of the districts have their name entered into a drawing. The name of one boy and one girl from each district is pulled from the pot. They are taken to the capital, put into an arena, and made to fight each other to the death.
Katniss Everdeen lives in District 12, which is in the Appalachian Mountains. Her father was a coal miner until a mining explosion left her in charge of her mother and younger sister. He was teaching her to hunt not long before he died and now she keeps the family just squeaking by with the food she illegally hunts in the wilderness. This year's reaping is the first one her little sister's name has been in the pot. Katniss has entered her name multiple times, in order to get more food. Prim's name is in just once. And when Prim's name is picked, there's only one thing Katniss can do: volunteer to take her place.
As evidenced above, I had a hard time putting these books down. The fact that the main character comes from these mountains, that she's a hardscrabble kid who really just wants to survive, hooked me pretty quickly. And there's no denying that the books deal with bigger issues like the possible future of our world and politics.
This book is good for:
Keeping you up reading way past your bedtime
Teens, Grade 9 and up
Beach, lake, river, shady patio reading
