The Hunger Games

Author:  Suzanne Collins
Publisher: 2008, Scholastic
Lexile Measure: 810L
Classification: Fiction

Summary:
The Hunger Games is a best selling novel by Suzanne Collins.  It is the first in a trilogy, and all have been turned into box office hits starring Jennifer Lawrence.  The Hunger Games is about a teenage girl, Katniss Everdeen, whose younger sister is selected by lottery to participate in the Hunger Games, a fight to the death between twenty-four similarly selected teenagers.  The government (the “Capital”) holds the annual games for the stated purpose of reminding people of the danger of rebellion. The true purpose, of course, is the entertainment of the ruling class, who gambles on the games and views the winners as celebrities (think Roman Coliseum here). Katniss, a skilled hunter, volunteers to take her sister’s place.  The book describes her ordeal and hints at its aftermath.

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Language:
The Hunger Games does not contain much profanity.  The word “hell” appears once.

Drug and Alcohol Use:

• One of the characters in The Hunger Games, Haymitch,  is an alcoholic who drinks constantly and is frequently drunk, falling off a stage during a televised event, throwing up at a dinner party, and otherwise behaving inappropriately (ex. pp. 19, 24-25, 47).  He appears to pull himself together toward the end of the book, however.
• Katniss is offered wine at a dinner party and she drinks it, but she does not get drunk.  Additionally, adults drink at a party on one occasion.  The book mentions this only in passing.

Violence and Crime:
This is a violent book.  The premise is violent enough -- to suppress rebellion, the Capital requires each of twelve districts to provide two teenagers, a male and female “tribute,” to fight to the death in annual hunger games.  It only gets more violent from there.

• The twenty-four contestants kill each other with rocks, knives, spears, poison, and bare hands.  They also battle mutant dogs and hornets as well as the game makers, who come up with new (always violent) ways to keep the games interesting to television viewers. 
  
• Katniss tried to drown her sister’s cat because she did not want another mouth to feed (p. 3). 
  
• The book mentions the government’s execution of dissidents as well as cutting out their tongues. (ex. p. 77). 
  
• Katniss and her friend hunt illegally to get food to feed their families and sell.  The people of District 12 (where Katniss lives) have a thriving black market.  Crime is not glorified, but described merely as a way to survive.  
  

Sexual Content:

• The Hunger Games contains little sexual content.  Katniss and her fellow tribute, Peeta, kiss several times and sleep in the same sleeping bag to keep warm during the games.   It is clear that Peeta really cares for Katniss, but Katniss’s motivation is unclear.
  
• Katniss was naked in front of her handlers when preparing for the games, but she was not portrayed in a sexual way.
  

Other:

• The people of the Capital gamble on the games. 

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Other Helpful Reviews:

• Common Sense Media
  
• The Literate Mother
  
• Scholastic