Book Talk Tuesday: Hunger Games

Note: Due to all the buzz surrounding the upcoming movie and the books, my book club decided to read it for this months meeting.

Hunger Games was an intriguing book with a disturbing plot. Imagine a number of decades from now, the U.S. was flooded and only a handful of the states remained, a dictatorship took over and renamed the U.S., Panem and the citizens are punished after a failed revolution. These events all precede the beginning of the book.

Citizens are punished by being forced to put their children's names (from ages 12-18) in a drawing to participate in the Hunger Games. It is indeed a punishment as the teens are forced to fight each other to the death in this twisted reality show. There could be only one victor.

We are introduced to several main characters, Katniss, Gale and Peeta, who also happen to make up a star crossed love triangle and also to several members of their families. Katniss volunteers herself when her younger and weaker sister's name is drawn. Peeta is the boy chosen from her district, whom Katniss barely knows but their lives been intertwined for many years. The two main characters are likable and you want to root for them.


There is plenty of action and suspense and the book is certainly a page turner. I definitely recommend this book for children 6th grade and up.