Set in the a future when the United States was crushed by revolution, leading to a new nation called Panam that is divided into 12 districts controlled by the Capitol, which is set in the Rocky Mountains, and a 13th district that was totally annihilated for disobedience, this novel draws up Shirley Jackson's The Lottery and blends it with today's interest in reality television to create a story that highlights what people accept during tough times of shortage and war.

Katniss Everdeen is 16 years old and lives in District 12, the portion of Panam that centers its culture and economy around coal mining (think Appalachia). It is about the time for the districts to choose their male and female tributes to send to the Capitol to fight in the annual Hunger Games. As with the myth of Theseus and the maze from Greek mythology, the tributes are basically sacrifices to the controlling area for being subservient. Tributes can range in age from 12 to 18, and have to have their name placed in the lottery each year. Their odds of selection increase each year as their possible drawing slips are cumulative. Each child can gain extra food for their family by taking on an extra vote each person who gets the food. As you can see, the poorer you are, the better chance you have of being chosen.

Unfortunately, this bias toward economic inequality is even more harsh than it sounds as the 24 tributes are basically entering a fight to the death. The winner receives riches and fame, but there can only be one winner.

Katniss finds herself as her district's female tribute when her younger sister Prim's name is chosen in her very first Reaping, the name they have for the drawing. Katniss can't live with seeing her self sent to the Hunger Games so she volunteers to takes Prim's place. Katniss is joined by Peeta, the son of the local baker who has repeatedly helped her and her family get food and other things they need to survive in their district.

Everyone in the country watches in anticipation as the tributes are introduced, interviewed, and prepared for the games. The tributes are then placed in a hostile gaming zone to face off for as long as they need to. Violence quickly ensues, and readers are brought along for the ride as Katniss struggles to come to terms with the idea of killing other tweens and teens like herself, her undefined ties to Peeta, befriending a young girl named Rue who reminds her greatly of Prim, and the elements.

This book is filled with action, but it is not overpowered by it. The quick pace in the fight to survive is offset by strong characters that show that many of the tributes are not bad people even if they are out to kill their colleagues. Like Katniss, they are confronted with the forced inequality in their culture and have no choice. This is one of the strongest books I have read for the Rhode Island Teen Book Award Committee, and kids are eating it up on the same level as they are Twilight.

I am not sure if they influenced Collins, but the book nicely mirrors the contents and ethical questions that are brought up in Surviving Antarctica: Reality TV 2083, a teen novel by Andrea White, and The Running Man, which was written by Stephen King under his pseudonym Richard Bachman.