Shelf Life

Collins became a best-selling author with her highly acclaimed “Underland Chronicles” series (Gregor the Overlander, etc.). While that series is popular with some high school kids it is aimed at a jr. high audience. The Hunger Games, with its 16-year-old protagonist, is aimed squarely at high school students (but jr. high students and adults will eat it up as well). This novel is a strong entrant in one of my favorite genres, the dystopian future science fiction story. The Hunger Games will hold it’s own along side Nancy Farmer’s House of the Scorpion, M.T. Anderson’s Feed and classics like 1984.

Katniss Everdeen, an acomplished poacher of wild animals, lives in District 12, the coal-mining region of the country of Panem. Located in the remaining habitable regions of a devastated North America, Panem’s 12 districts are harshly ruled by the distant Capitol. Each year, as a form of entertainment and a brutal expression of the Capitol’s absolute control, a boy and girl from each district are forced to compete in the Hunger Games. This is the ultimate reality show in which the contestants fight to the death before a live TV audience. All citizens are required to watch. Only one contestant will survive. Can Katinis, who has spent her life just barely avoiding hunger, hope to compete against bigger, stronger rivals from the richer districts? Will her drunken mentor help her or only speed her death? And will the government stack the odds to guarantee that a more acceptable candidate wins?

This story has complex and believable characters, political intrigue, romance, and tons of exciting action. The only down-side? It’s the first in a series and the next one won’t be out for quite a while.

Highly recommended for grades 7-12.

By Mr. Doyle

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