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The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
ISBN: 978-0-439-02348-1
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Copyright date: 2008

Summary: Sixteen year old Katniss Everdeen is living a life of survival. She lives in Panem, which is located amongst the ruins of what was once North America. The Capitol makes sure to keep the twelve districts in line by squashing any attempts at rebellion. As punishment for previous uprisings, each year the Hunger Games are held, where one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen must fight to the death on live TV as a reward for food and support for their district. When Katniss takes her sister’s place in the Games, it will take everything she has to survive, in both body and spirit. 

 

Critical Evaluation: The Hunger Games, to put it lightly, is a disturbing novel. The idea of children being forced to fight to death just to ensure the survival of their homes is certainly one that stays with you, and Suzanne Collins does such a good job of creating a realistic world and plot that never once does the thought “this could never happen” cross the reader’s mind. 

 

Collins’ uses concepts that we are already familiar with to develop an uncomfortably recognizable dystopian world. Here the rich are safe, able to buy their way out of the Hunger Games, while the poor are left out of control of their own fates. Children are put in traumatizing situations, the ones not fighting for their lives forced to watch their peers do so on live TV. And those in the Capitol, those running the Games, have become so desensitized to human life that they watch for entertainment and send endorsements to their favorite participants. With a bit of thought, it’s easy to see some unsettling parallels between the fictional world and the real one. Despite this, the plot is unique and hasn’t been seen before in young adult literature. It is also sickening in a way that will make readers want to continue on in fascination. This cocktail of familiar concepts with a distinctive plot makes The Hunger Games an unforgettable read. 

 

Collins’ main character Katniss is down to earth, cunning, and a true survivor that will draw readers in. She recognizes the horror of her situation, and makes her choices with the lives of those around her in mind. The book and ongoing series touch on the serious mental health issues that can result from trauma like Katniss goes through, and Collins’ doesn’t shy away from having Katniss and others experience PTSD and anxiety. While Katniss does have a soft spot for people she cares about, she realistically also cares about survival. 

 

The Hunger Games is a thought provoking novel that will make young readers question the values of power and control, and how human life is affected when want for them spins out of control. 

 

Reader’s Annotation: Panem is a deadly place where children are forced to fight to the death in the annual Hunger Games to ensure their district’s survival. When Katniss takes her little sister’s place in the games, she realizes she may never make it home. 

Author Info: “​​In 1991, Suzanne Collins began her professional career writing for children's television. She worked on the staffs of several Nickelodeon shows, including the Emmy-nominated hit Clarissa Explains it All and The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo. For preschool viewers, she penned multiple stories for the Emmy-nominated Little Bear and Oswald. She also co-wrote the Rankin/Bass Christmas special, Santa, Baby! with her friend, Peter Bakalian, which was nominated for a WGA Award in Animation. Most recently she was the Head Writer for Scholastic Entertainment's Clifford's Puppy Days,and a freelancer on Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! While working on a Kids WB show called Generation O! she met children's author and illustrator James Proimos, who talked her into giving children's books a try.

 

Thinking one day about Alice in Wonderland, she was struck by how pastoral the setting must seem to kids who, like her own, lived in urban surroundings. In New York City, you're much more likely to fall down a manhole than a rabbit hole and, if you do, you're not going to find a tea party. What you might find...? Well, that's the story of Gregor the Overlander, the first book in her five-part fantasy/war series, The Underland Chronicles,which became a New York Times bestseller. It has been sold into 21 foreign territories.

 

Her next series, The Hunger Games Trilogy, is an international bestseller. The Hunger Games has spent over six years to date on The New York Times bestseller list since publication in September 2008, and has also appeared consistently on USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. It has been sold into 54 territories in 52 languages. In 2010 Suzanne was named to the TIME 100 list as well as the Entertainment Weekly Entertainers of the Year list. In 2016, she was presented the 2016 Authors Guild Award for Distinguished Service to the Literary Community for exemplifying the unique power of young people's literature to change lives and create lifelong book lovers. It was the first time the Guild presented the award to a YA author. Her books have sold over 100 million copies worldwide.”

 

Retrieved from: https://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com/bio.htm

 

Genre: Dystopian

 

Booktalk Ideas: 

  • Why do we make sacrifices? Who do we make them for? How far will we go?

  • Discussion of the parallels of Panem and American society. 

 

Reading Level: Grades 8 and up

 

Challenge Issues: violence/mistrust of government

 

Reason for Including: The Hunger Games is an international bestseller, and has helped define the last decade of young adult literature. Its themes also continue to become more relevant in American society. 

 

References

 

Collins, S. (2008). The hunger games. Scholastic Press. 

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