The Hunger Games is Here

In the future, 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen lives with her mother and little sister in District 12, a very poor area in North America. Katniss lost her father in a coal-mining accident and it became her role to supplement the family's meager supplies by hunting.

Each day she and a friend would sneak out into the woods and hunt, which was a capital offense punished by death. Luckily she quickly became proficient with a bow and arrow, which her father had hidden long before.

On the day of "reaping" Katniss's beloved younger sister is randomly chosen to represent District 12 in the annual Hunger Games. Immediately Katniss steps forward to replace her sister in the Games, which are held yearly in the
Capitol.

Though the Hunger Games have elements in common with the Olympics (coaches, training and a spectacular opening ceremony) and with reality TV shows (constant cameras, obstacles, a manipulated environment in the arena), the real purpose was far more terrifying. The population were required to send one boy and one girl from each district to fight to the death. 

According to the author, the roots of her book date back to an early fascination with the myth of Theseus, when as punishment for past deeds, Athens had to send seven maidens and seven young men to Crete to be devoured by the
Minotaur.

Even as a child, the author got the message: "Mess with us and we'll do something worse than kill you. We'll kill your children."

One day as Collins was channel surfing between reality TV and war coverage, she got the idea for the story. Combining the intense survival scenes with a story of love and friendship would produce a page-turner that has adults and teens heading to the bookstore for the next installment.

Friday is the first showing of Hunger Games at the theater and it is already a major success. Fandango reports that "the film is garnering 92% of its daily sales and has already surpassed the first Twilight film's presales numbers."  The soundtrack for the movie was released at midnight Tuesday and now tops the album bestseller lists.

CNN Money reported "the biggest fans may be from an older generation--investors." Shares of Lions Gate Entertainment, parent company of Lionsgate studio, "are up 75 percent so far this year after a gaining more than 7 percent Tuesday to close at a record high and they were up another 4 percet in early trading Wednesday."

CNN Money also noted that "shares of Scholastic are up 22.5 percent year to date after a 1.7 percent rise in trading Tuesday, and were up another 1.8 percent Wednesday."

If you haven't read this series yet, we suggest you give it a try. It is a wonderful read for adults and teens. Even my 10-year-old granddaughter loved it. 

See you at the movie.