THE HUNGER GAMES

TITLE: THE HUNGER GAMES
AUTHOR: SUZANNE COLLINS
Pages: 454
Date: 18/08/2010
Grade: 5
Details: no. 1 Hunger Games/Young Adult
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What a book! What a story! What an author!
I loved this book, and can't believe it took me this long to pick it up. On the other hand, maybe it's just as well I waited this long. We own the second one in the series, and the third and last one is to be released next month, so I've spared myself a long and agonized wait for the last instalment.
This is such a gruesome story, yet at the same time so filled with very recognizable human emotions and love that it grabs the reader and doesn't let go until the very last word on the very last page. And even then, all the reader wants is to know is how it continues.
The story takes us to America in the near future where the country is a mere shadow of what it is now and a place where oppression and poverty starkly contrast with opulence and cruelty.
Every year two teenagers from all of the twelve districts are picked for a live television show called The Hunger Games. They're released into an arena out of which only one winner will emerge. Losing means dying but the winner will have a life filled with fame and riches.
Katniss Everdeen is 16 years old when her younger sister's name is drawn to enter the game. Not willing to lose the only person she really loves, Katniss volunteers to take her sister's place and is taken to The Capitol to enter the Games. With her is Peeta Mellark, the baker's son who's also been picked.
After a short period of preparation and good living the teenagers from all the districts are released into a large arena where they'll have to fend for themselves and kill or be killed. 
In this horrifying setting Katniss finds herself not only fighting her opponents and the elements but also her own feelings, fears and insecurities.