Gail C. Krause (Children's Literature)
In a futuristic society, the United States is divided into 12 districts, each based on their area’s natural product. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen lives in District 12, an area once known as Appalachia. District 12’s product is coal. Almost everyone is a miner. It is not a wealthy area. Residents are forced to eat whatever they can find or pay with a chance on their child’s life to obtain government surplus foods. Luckily Kat’s father taught her how to hunt and gather before he was blown up in a mine explosion. After his death her family depends on her for survival, until the very worst thing happens to them: She is sent to the Hunger Games to represent District 12 in a fight to the death. If she wins, both her family and her district will be rewarded with all the food and wealth they need. Kat is ready to do battle with the wilderness and the other tributes, but she isn’t ready to fall in love. What happens when she finds she has feelings for her partner and knows she must kill him to win the games? The first in a new YA trilogy from Suzanne Collins offers and excellent story and is highly recommended. Readers will oo forward to the sequels. 2008, Scholastic Books, $17.99. Ages 12 up.

Sheilah Egan (Children's Literature)
Collins has mixed an extraordinarily brutal, post-apocalyptical dystopia with strong, believable characters; stirred in aspects of Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, blended it thoroughly with philosophy, politics, and breakneck pacing; and ladled on the sauce of friendship, loyalty, and love to create a fantastic serving of young adult literature. Katniss Everdeen of District 12 (also referred to as the Seam since it provides coal for the rest of the districts and the Capitol) has been unwillingly thrust into a position of responsibility for the welfare of her younger sister and mother. After her father’s death in a mine explosion, Katniss’s mother suffers a complete breakdown and becomes incapable of even the slightest action to feed or protect her children. Because of her indomitable spirit and the generosity of the baker’s son Peeta, Katniss is catapulted into becoming the family’s provider. She takes to the woods outside District 12’s fence, where she hunts and gathers to provide the sustenance so vital to her family’s existence. In the woods she meets Gale, a young man who provides for his family in the same way. Their friendship is mainly about helping each other find enough game and greens to feed their respective families with enough extra to sell for the other necessities of life. An annual “punishment for previous uprisings” by the Districts, called the Hunger Games, is the Capitol’s way of controlling the District’s inhabitants. Each District is required to provide two “tributes,” one boy and one girl, to participate in a yearly battle-to-the-death of strength and wits. Much like the Roman gladiatorial entertainments, people treat the Games as an opportunity for gambling, gaiety, and self-aggrandizement (backing the winner results in highly-prized fame). Readers cannot help but imagine themselves caught up in such a life, identifying with and analyzing the actions of Katniss, who volunteers to take her sisters’ place as a tribute; Peeta, whose name is drawn as a tribute and who struggles to stay alive and protect Katniss in the Game; and Gale, who is left in District 12, promising to look after Katniss’s sister and mother. The challenges set up in the Game arena are inventively cruel, and the methods of “entertaining” those viewing the televised Game are ingeniously creative. Collins mines every aspect of human emotions without every approaching “preachyness” and keeps the action rapidly advancing to ensnare her readers. Because knowledge and observation of nature play a big part in survival during the Game brawn and brute strength may be overcome. One of the author’s strengths is her ability to include a myriad of interesting details that make the “former North American continent” seem alien, yet recognizable and real. Readers will eagerly await the second installment in this captivating trilogy. 2008, Scholastic, $17.99. Ages 12 up.

Courtney Elrod (Children's Literature)
Katniss Everdeen, a teenage girl from futuristic North America, barely avoids starvation every day and complies with inhumane government regulations that force her to leave her home to participate in the annual Hunger Games. The Hunger Games, the government’s way of exerting power over its citizens, is a tournament in which one boy and one girl from each of the 12 districts of the nation are exiled to a man-made, dangerous arena armed with only their survival skills and very few supplies to fend off the other participants and the arena’s life-threatening elements with the hopes to be the last one alive. While some districts view being randomly selected to participate in the Hunger Games an honor and others see it as a nightmare, Katniss voluntarily enters the games to protect her younger sister from a certain death. During her participation in the Hunger Games, Katniss faces the forces of nature and the oppressing government as she battles for her life and for the chance to return home alive with her district partner, Peeta. This is not only a story about a young girl’s struggle against catastrophic events, but a depiction of the conflicts adolescents face during young adulthood. The novel’s futuristic setting allows the reader to escape the present and enter an unknown, horrifying world through Katniss’s depressing and unfathomable life and experience in the Hunger Games. Collins includes conflict, love, and uncontrollable events to develop the characters and engage the reader throughout the novel. The futuristic and horrific elements of the novel provide unique and intense components to the setting and the characters, but these elements could turn away readers uninterested in these images as they are graphic and terrifying. 2008, Scholastic Press, $17.99. Ages 12 up.

Alison Canar (Childrens Book and Play Review, March/April 2009 (Vol. 29, No. 4))
Imagine if the gladiators' ancient coliseums had the finest technology of the future available to them and the participants in these public displays of violence were children. This is the world of the hunger games. As punishment for past rebellion, districts under the control of the all-powerful capital must sacrifice one boy and one girl for an annual, televised blood-bath. When Katniss Everdeen's younger sister is selected, Katniss doesn't hesitate to take her place. Even though only one tribute should come out alive, the on-screen romance between Katniss and a fellow tribute wins the heart of the audience. Eventually the pair uses their influence to overcome the deadly designs of the capital. Collins effectively sets the stage for the games. She draws the readers in and leaves them eager to learn what Katniss will face next. However, as Katniss leaves her home town, the story encounters several unfortunate detours. While the battle scenes are gripping, the plot often feels forced. Much of the novel focuses on a love triangle with two missing sides. Katniss never commits herself to either choice. The book leaves the reader with the conclusion of the games, but no resolution of the characters. While the novel is intended to be part of an ongoing series, the pacing still feels off. The Hunger Games is a worthwhile exploration of the themes of survival and self-preservation, but struggles with fleshing out the motives of the characters and creating a unified storyline. Rating: Dependable. Reading Level: Young adult;. Category: Adventure stories; Science fiction. 2008, Scholastic;, 374 p;, $17.99. © 2002, Brigham Young University.

CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices 2009)
This gripping novel is set in the future, in a time when North America is called Panem. The country has been divided into twelve districts, each with a special function. Katniss is a sixteen-year-old girl from District 12, the poorest area. Since her father died in a coal mining accident, it has fallen on her to provide for her family, which she does by crossing a fence into an off-limits area to hunt small game and gather edible plants. There’s a tradition in Panem: Each year two teens between the ages of twelve and eighteen are selected by a lottery system to participate in the Hunger Games, a televised reality show in which contestants must not only survive in the wild but fight to the death. Katniss is one of the “tributes” from District 12, and the survival skills she has developed will serve her well in the competition. But will she have the heart to kill the other contestants? This first volume in a trilogy that promises intense emotion and fast-paced action probes the realities of a corrupt political system built on secrecy and fear, the ethics of reality television and blood sports, and the lengths human beings will go to in order to survive. CCBC Category: Fiction for Young Adults. 2008, Scholastic Press, 420 pages, $17.99. Age 12 and older.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2008 (Vol. 76, No. 17))
Katniss Everdeen is a survivor. She has to be; she's representing her District, number 12, in the 74th Hunger Games in the Capitol, the heart of Panem, a new land that rose from the ruins of a post-apocalyptic North America. To punish citizens for an early rebellion, the rulers require each district to provide one girl and one boy, 24 in all, to fight like gladiators in a futuristic arena. The event is broadcast like reality TV, and the winner returns with wealth for his or her district. With clear inspiration from Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" and the Greek tale of Theseus, Collins has created a brilliantly imagined dystopia, where the Capitol is rich and the rest of the country is kept in abject poverty, where the poor battle to the death for the amusement of the rich. Impressive world-building, breathtaking action and clear philosophical concerns make this volume, the beginning of a planned trilogy, as good as The Giver and more exciting. However, poor copyediting in the first printing will distract careful readers—a crying shame. 2008, Scholastic, 394p, $17.99. Category: Science fiction. Ages 11 up. © 2008 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Claire Rosser (KLIATT Review, November 2008 (Vol. 42, No. 6))
This is an amazingly suspenseful story, combining the familiar (“Survivor”-type TV shows) with details of a horrific future. Once again, an author chooses a future in which some calamity has created a society cowed into submission by dictators, and manipulated and controlled through technology. The Hunger Games are this future culture’s way of entertaining and frightening the people, all at once. Young people are chosen by lot as participants in the games. Once chosen, the “contestants” scheme for the others’ deaths--real deaths--because that is the only way to survive: to be the last person standing. The people follow the “action” via camera, with strategy and suffering presented as entertainment (sort of like the action in the Roman Empire’s Coliseum, I suppose). The heroine is 16-year-old Katniss, a skilled hunter and survivor managing to keep her mother and younger sister alive in their repressive society. When Katniss’s younger sister, who is not very strong, draws the lot, Katniss takes her place, willing to die for her family. In a masterstroke of strategic planning, Katniss teams up with another contestant, a boy she has known in her village, to ensure their survival. The “games” themselves are nonstop action: physical, mental, emotional. Readers will be absorbed in the action, identifying with Katniss and frightened by this view of a possible future. Category: Hardcover Fiction. KLIATT Codes: JS*--Exceptional book, recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2008, Scholastic, 374p., $17.99. Ages 12 to 18.

Lauren Herneisey (Kutztown University Book Review, Spring 2009)
Catnis is an adolescent girl who lives in a world of terror and prejudice. The story takes place in the future, after humans have pretty much destroyed the world and all of its resources. The world is divided into 13 districts, which separate the rich and the poor. Catnis and her family struggle to survive every day while the rich prosper. After her father’s death Catnis’s mother has a nervous breakdown, forcing Catnis to care for her mother as well as her younger sister or they will starve to death. Each year, to entertain themselves, the government has come up with a grotesque game called the Reaping. A boy and a girl from each district is randomly selected to participate in a battle where they must kill the other children, and the last one standing wins. Catnis’s little sister Prim is selected for the Reaping, so Catnis takes her place. She along with Peta, the boy chosen from her district try to come up with a way to overthrow the government and win the Reaping together. This is an amazing book which shows how desensitized people are becoming, and an extreme version of what our world could become after war and hatred take over people. (Hunger Games Series #1) Category: Coming of Age. 2008, Scholastic Press, $17.99. Ages 13 to 18.

Ruth Cox Clark (Library Media Connection, November/December 2008)
This is a gripping survival story set in what was once North America. At the center of this barbaric civilization is the Capitol where the rich idle away their hours while the residents of the surrounding districts endure hard labor to produce the resources needed. Sixteen-year-old Kat Everdeen lives where food is scarce, but she must feed herself, her little sister, and her mother. She hunts daily--an illegal activity but ignored by district officials as she sells them her catches. Kat takes a place in the annual Hunger Games with Peeta, who has loved Kat for years. Never before have district contestants chosen to join forces in this fight to the death, televised for all to see. While the nation of Panem watches 24 young people fight for their lives, Kat also fights against her feelings for Peeta. Survival has always been the most important thing in her life and no one is going to stand in her way. The games are so brutal and so real that it is impossible to stop reading until you know who wins the Hunger Games. Highly Recommended. 2008, Scholastic, 384pp., $17.99 hc. Ages 12 to 18.

John Ritchie (The ALAN Review, Summer 2008 (Vol. 35, No. 3))
Ta ke the ancient Greek myth of Crete demanding Athens send 14 of its children as sacrificial tributes, substitute the minotaur for gladiator combat pitting the youths against one another, set it in a dystopic future, make it all entertainment for the reality television of a tyrannical government, and then give it characters that add his/her own twist to the story-- these are the ingredients for The Hunger Games, the first book in a thrilling new trilogy from Suzanne Collins. Collins doesn’t waste a single character in the entire novel. From our narrator-heroine Katniss Everdeen, to her Hunger Games sponsor Haymitch Abernathy, to Hunger Games show host Caesar Flickerman, each character is rich in depth and worthy of his/her own story. Collins also keeps the action moving at a smooth and quick pace. The novel is violent without ever being bloody. Collins avoids easy, Hollywood-style endings and gives us realistic, complex characters. Librarians and teachers will have a hard time keeping this book on their shelves. Category: Science Fiction/Survival/Friendship. YA--Young Adult. 2008, Scholastic Press, 407 pp., $17.99. Ages young adult.Wamego, KS

April Spisak (The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, November 2008 (Vol. 62, No. 3))
Katniss is used to hardships: life in the twelfth district where she lives is gritty and life threatening, and her sixteen years have been desperate ones. When her younger sister is selected to be a tribute in the Hunger Games, a televised fight to the death between twenty-four teens (one girl and boy from each of the twelve districts), Katniss spares her sibling by taking on the responsibility herself. Thus Katniss finds herself in training, hoping to be the one teen left standing, knowing that winning requires extraordinary skills and cunning (both in wilderness survival to contend with the isolated area in which the participants are left, and in fighting) that she isn’t sure she possesses and that it will mean the deaths of twenty-three others. This deeply disturbing, haunting story, the first novel in an anticipated trilogy, carefully introduces the memorable characters and vivid setting as a foundation for the subsequent volumes, while also standing alone as an insightful examination of an irascible and defiant girl realizing for the first time that her life will always be filled with choices that range from difficult to devastating. There’s believable discord between her resolute approach to survival and her flashes of guilt, resulting in a complex protagonist whom readers may not ultimately like (though her loyalty to a seemingly fated love might draw in romantic readers) but will inevitably admire and find intriguing. Sci-fi buffs who are drawn to dystopic futures will find this setting to be both satisfyingly futuristic and unfamiliar; thoughtful readers will also note the author’s hints at unsettling contemporary parallels Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2008, Scholastic, 420p.; Reviewed from galleys, $17.99. Grades 7-10.

Deborah L. Dubois (VOYA, October 2008 (Vol. 31, No. 4))
Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen cannot believe it when her younger sister Prim is chosen as the female tribute from their district at the Reaping. In this futuristic society, each district is required to send two tributes to the Games in the Capitol where they must fight to the death while the whole country watches on live television. To protect her sister, Katniss volunteers to take her place, knowing that she will probably never again return home. Twenty-four young people are dropped off in a remote area and must fight for survival against the harsh conditions and each other. Only one is allowed to live. Katniss and Peeta, the other tribute from District 12, form an uneasy alliance that blossoms into romance amid the brutality and deprivation of the Hunger Games. Katniss and Peeta try to rebel against the Gamemakers but discover that they must play the game to its end. Collins moves up a level from the Gregor the Overlander books in this gripping story that is the first of a new trilogy. Themes of government control, "big brother," and personal independence are explored amidst a thrilling adventure that will appeal to science fiction, survival, and adventure readers. The suspense of this powerful novel will keep the reader glued to the page long after bedtime. VOYA CODES: 5Q 4P J S (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Broad general YA appeal; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2008, Scholastic, 384p., $17.99. Ages 12 to 18.