Recently we finished reading a 374 page book, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. This is a dystopian novel. Born in Hartford Connecticut, Suzanne Collins is an American television writer and The New York Times bestselling author of The Underland Chronicles and The Hunger Games trilogy. Her inspiration of writing The Hunger Games came to her one day! Collins states,
“I was lying in bed, and I was channel surfing between reality TV programs and actual war coverage. On one channel, there’s a group of young people competing for I don’t even know; and on the next, there’s a group of young people fighting in an actual war. I was really tired, and the lines between these stories started to blur in a very unsettling way. That’s the moment when Katniss’s story came to me.”
This story takes place in North America, at The Capital, which is a wealthy city where people are very. Every year the capital forces one boy and one girl from all 12 districts to fight to the death in the annual Hunger Games. This book takes the perspective of Katniss Everdeen from district 12. District 12 is where poor families live. THey have limited supplies and resources. In the beginning of the book, The Capitol choses the two tributes from district 12. Katniss’s sister, Prim is the chosen female tribute for the games. Katniss immediately takes the place of Prim in the Hunger Games because she doesn’t want to risk losing her little sister since she already lost her father years ago. Next is the male tribute, Peeta Mellark. Katniss realizes that she already met him years ago. A flashback comes to her while she’s on stage. Katniss was searching for food for her family in the garbage bins behind the town shops when Peeta gave her bread from his family’s bakery. Peeta got in trouble for this but did it anyway to help Katniss and her family. After they were chosen, Peeta and Katniss say their last goodbyes to their families and friends. She tells Gale to take her place and hunt for her family. They train and get better at hunting and general survival skills. During the games, Katniss can only rely on her hunting skills and sharp instincts if she wants to survive.
While reading this novel,we liked how the author put in this passage. It was when Katniss is getting ready to leave the stage.“Then something unexpected happens. At least, I don’t expect it because I don’t think of District 12 as a place that cares about me. But a shift has occurred since I stepped up to take Prim’s place, and now it seems I have become someone precious. At first one, then another, then almost every member of the crowd touches the three middle fingers of their left hand to their lips and holds it out to me. It is an old and rarely used gesture of our district, occasionally seen at funerals. I means thanks, it means admiration, it means good-bye to someone you love”. (2.17) This passage stood out to us because the community changes the way they see her and give her respect and admiration.
We didn’t like Katniss’s reaction towards Peeta when he admitted to Caesar that he liked her. After Peeta admitted that he has a crush on Katniss during his interview, Katniss became furious and pushes Peeta into an urn, causing him to cut his hands. She yells at him that he had no right to make her look like a fool. I think Katniss should have accepted this as a way to get more sponsors and shouldn’t have lashed out on Peeta so violently. She also should have rushed into pushing him without hearing Haymitch explain why Peeta did what he did.
The main character, Katniss Everdeen is a 16 year old from District 12. She survived The Hunger Games and during the them, “she turned a whole nation of slaves into an army”! Her younger sister, Prim got chosen to participate in The Hunger Games, but was very nervous so her older sister stood out for her and said, “I volunteer for tribute for district 12”. Prim had no idea that she would get picked for The Hunger games, she thought she wasn’t even close, but then all of a sudden her name gets called from the microphone and she was very shocked. Katniss took her place and thought that if she did this then she would win the games. The main character, Everdeen is a very good hunter and has a lot of experience with hunting! Katniss has a best friend who is Gale and he is also her hunting partner! They seem to get along very well. Katniss Everdeen was a positive girl and she made a great move in the Hunger Games!
We were surprised when the game makers allowed Peeta and Katniss to both win the games and instead of just one tribute. This was surprising because the gamemakers never let there be more than one winner in the games before. It also surprised us how Katniss and Peeta threatened to kill themselves if they both didn’t win. This shows us that they really care about each other even though before this Katniss was never affectionate towards Peeta.
In conclusion, we would rate The Hunger Games is a 8 out of 10. We would do this because there was not much action in the beginning of the book.This book wasn’t as challenging as we thought it would be! Later in the novel, it definitely got more interesting because this was when the games began!
From,

Lucy Witherbee, Emma Corazzelli and Casey Tichy