The Hunger Games

“But they teach them about them at school, and the girl knows we played a role in them

My children who don’t know they play in a graveyard.

But one day I’ll have to explain about my nightmares. Why they came. Why they won’t ever really go away”

Having just finished the trilogy of Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, devouring each word within a weekend, I am glad to finally have fallen back in love with reading. I decided to pick it up because I overheard a conversation between a couple of my seventh graders regarding the book. One girl was explaining to the other that she wished she had waited a couple years before reading it, and that it was really “intense.” After reading it myself, I readily agree.

Hunger Games is no more violent then The Inheritance Series by Christopher Paolini or the seventh Harry Potter book. It is the premise. The premise is what makes a preteen admit to needing a few more years before facing the horrors of this trilogy. The book is a post apocalyptic novel, in which the President forces each district to give two children a year to participate in a tournament. Only one child in 24 is meant to survive. Much of the final book Mockingjay is reminiscent of the holocaust, and of the PTSD, which afflicted many survivors.

This book is geared to preteens and teens (12-17), but I would bump that up a bit, probably ages 16+ due to the premise. I don’t think that most kids under 16 are able to handle graphic holocaust novels, and this seems to fictionally slip into that category. A few seemingly minor details make this easier to read for the young reader. The fact that it is in first person narrative gives away the fact that the protagonist, Katniss Everdeen , survives the trilogy. The tame romance (no more than kissing) spurs the reader on for a bittersweet ending (I don’t want to give it away, but the love triangle is compelling).

The themes in the trilogy are interesting to think about (even as an adult). 

Is Collins warning the reader against Big Government? Is she warning about the inherent corruptness of Socialism? Are we sacrificing our children for peace now, even though no one really wins? Is war any better then murder? Is Katniss Everdeen less of a pawn when she is a soldier than a player in the Games? What do you think Collins is saying about our current social position? Is there a purpose of calling the radical leader a “President” or is that a coincidence? What do you think?