*The Hunger Games* by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a cross between Lord of the Flies and 1984, mixed with the television program, “Survivor”.

This is a futuristic novel where Panem, the country that has replaced North America, has a lottery in each of its twelve districts every year of one girl and one boy, to fight to the death in a televised games arena. The “games” are punishment for an uprising that was held in the country 75 years earlier. The story is told in the first person by Katniss Everdeen who chooses to replace her 12 year old sister, Prim, the pick from the lottery. Because the story is in the first person we know she is going to win the games but how she does it and what the games involve kept me reading far into the night.

The first of a trilogy, I rushed back to the store to get the second volume, Catching Fire, which I whipped through in a day it was so intriguing. Now I have to wait until August to get the final volume, Mockingjay!

Tricia

The Hunger Games is available in paperback in early July!

Mockingjay is available on August 24th!