The newest book that has become popular among teenagers is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. The book is the first of a trilogy.  The Hunger Games is so widely popular that a movie is being produced and is set to be released March 23, 2012.  This is part of the reason people have been reading it.

The book is about a dystopian society where the government contains complete control over all 12 Districts.  The setting is in future America, and instead of states, the country is divided into districts.  Every year, the Capital chooses a boy and a girl over the age of thirteen and under the age of eighteen from each district to compete in The Hunger Games.  The Hunger Games are a yearly source of entertainment.  Some districts, the richer lower numbered districts, think of it as an honor to be chosen as the player of the games.  As the district number increases, so does the fear of being chosen as the player.

Primrose Everdeen, thirteen years old, gets chosen to be the girl player for District 12.  Out of fear, her older sister Katniss Everdeen  volunteers to take her place.  Peeta Mellark was chosen for the male player.   Haymitch, the only previous Hunger Games winner from District 12, is the players’ only source of training for the games.  Haymitch tells Katniss and Peeta to work their way through the games pretending to be lovers, so they would win the heart of the nation wide audience and, hopefully, the Capital.  Alliances are made and the final two people are Peeta and Katniss.  They both put poisonous berries in their mouth to convince the Capital to let them both win.  For the first time in the history of the Hunger Games, two winners defeated the games at the same time.

This book was written from a very meticulous point of view.  The author must be a very creative and imaginative person to create a society with a system so  traumatizing and yet so honorable at the same time.

I completely disagreed with the love triangle between Gale, Katniss, and Peeta.  From the beginning, I wanted Katniss and Peeta to be together.  Gale gets in the way. I did not like that the author assumed that we knew things that were not plainly described.  I wish more detail had been given.  The only other thing I did not like was the fact that the book ended.

I liked the details of the arena, and the descriptions of the Capital.  The story line created a great read and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the entire story.  Through all the adventures Katniss and Peeta figure out the best way to beat the odds.  I loved the end of the book.  The ending of the book led to the second and the third book.  Making the Capital mad by tricking them into having two winners foreshadowed the third book especially. The Hunger Games was a great start to a great trilogy.

I, along with other Hunger Games fans, anticipate the release of the movie.