A Brief History
On September 14, 2008, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins was published by Scholastic Press.
Digging Deeper
This initial novel about a dystopian American/North American future is only one of many such works of fictional dystopian futures, but while this particular genre of novel has long captivated Americans and other readers, the Hunger Games franchise spawned four other novels in the same literary universe, sequels Catching Fire and Mockingjay, and two prequels, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and the 2025 release, Sunrise at the Reaping.. Excellent novels all, not surprisingly each of the first four novels in turn gave rise to a major motion picture by each respective title. We would expect the fifth novel would keep the movie trend going.
Perhaps the general public mood of dissatisfaction found in today’s America when the fabric and supremacy of the United States seems to be on the wane and while environmental factors such as diminishing supplies of clean water, the waning bounty of the sea, polluted water, land and air, and global overpopulation makes us all the more susceptible to being drawn to stories about a bleak future. Either way, society has firmly taken to these books and movies.
The stories themselves are centered on so called “Hunger Games,” an evil and diabolical contest pitting teenagers from the outlying regions of the dystopian country in a battle to the death against each other, a highly conflicted and emotional ride for the unlucky children picked to compete. The “Games” were invented as a way to punish the outer districts that had unsuccessfully rebelled against the central government, called “The Capitol.”
Featuring a teen aged girl as the main protagonist in the first three books, one would think the stories are therefore suitable as teenage girl fodder… but wait! This reviewer shunned the books and movies for exactly that reason (as I am not a teenaged girl). Luckily for me, I happened upon a copy of the original Hunger Games book and being a voracious reader, immediately dove into the tale. To my surprise the book is well written and captivating, and I found myself rooting for and identifying with the young heroine. The fourth novel shares the main character role with both a teen boy and a teen girl, while the fifth story is centered on a male character also featured in the first three novels.
Novels and stories clearly depicting the courage and resourcefulness of teen girls and boys, while also showing both the honor and goodness of people and the flip side of character, greed, duplicity, avarice and hate, the tales are a case study in human nature. In fact, at times the characters actually discuss whether or not human nature is basically good or evil.
Panning a wide range of human conditions and emotions, the Hunger Games stories expose the reader/viewer to love, loyalty, family, friendship, betrayal, prejudice and the full gamut of human foibles. Plenty of exciting and tension producing action for those that prefer action, graphic descriptions of death and wounds caused by fighting, war and murder, and some romance and conflicted morals thrown in for good measure.
Well written and easy to read without stooping to any sort of “dumbing down” for young readers, the stories (and films) are highly entertaining and are the sort of tales a reader is loathe to put down once the reading starts. We strongly recommend the books and movies both for readers/viewers of all ages and backgrounds. Enjoy!
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Did you enjoy this book series?
If you liked this article and would like to receive notifications of new articles, please feel welcome to follow History and Headlines on Facebook and X!
Your readership is much appreciated!
Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Collins, Suzanne. Catching Fire. Scholastic Press, 2013.
Collins, Suzanne. Mockingjay. Scholastic Press, 2014.
Collins, Suzanne. Sunrise on the Reaping. Scholastic Press, 2026.
Collins, Suzanne. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Scholastic Press, 2023.
Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Scholastic Press, 2010.
The featured image in this article, a photograph by Courtney Carmody of a girl lying on a bench reading a book, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
