by Aimee Lewis

If one of your family members were forced to fight for his or her life, yet you had the opportunity to step in for them, would you? Honestly, I get the feeling that not many people would. Yeah, many people say, “Of course I would! It’s family!” but when it comes down to it, and they’re actually put into this situation, would they do it? In The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, families are put to the test. It shows that sometimes, no matter how much you love someone, you don’t necessarily know how you will react.

Katniss Everdeen, the main heroine of this story, is put to the ultimate test when her sister is called to enter the games at merely twelve years old. The Hunger Games is a life or death game where one boy and one girl are chosen to fight between the twelve different sectors. In certain sectors, being chosen is a high honor. However, in sector twelve, the sector that Katniss and her sister, Primrose, are from, the game is highly feared.

The townspeople are either very poor, or make their living by selling food. They do not usually learn how to fight for anything other than for food for their families. After Katniss’ father died, her mother sank into a depressed state, so Katniss was forced to learn how to hunt and take care of her family. Obviously her family mattered more to her than anything, so when Primrose’s name was called for the games, Katniss had to step in and volunteer her life.

A boy, Peeta, who once gave Katniss bread for her starving family, was called to enter the games also. Katniss and Peeta were never close; they never said a word to each other before this. Now they are both forced to fight to stay alive, either together or separately. Will they turn on each other? Or will they help each other fight to the death with twenty-two other “tributes”?

The Hunger Games is a good read if you have nothing else to do. It’s slow in the beginning, so for me it was very hard to get into. But as you get past the first ten or so chapters, it gets exciting and much easier to read.

The Hunger Games is being made into a movie that will be released in 2012!

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Aimee Lewis is 18 years old and an ongoing contributor to our Teen Talk section; her interests are acting and reading. She will be attending Reedley College in the fall.