The widely popular Hunger Games trilogy is set in a dystopian world named Panem consisting of 12 districts ruled by a highly authoritarian government headquartered at the city of Capitol. Before, there was a thirteenth district as well which was completely destroyed when the people rebelled against the government. As a warning to the people and to discourage any more rebellions, the Capitol introduced The Hunger Games. In this game a boy and a girl aged between 12 and 18 were selected every year from each district. Called as the reaping, this selection by lottery was for a fight which was telecast live for all the citizens to watch and 'enjoy'. The specialty of the game was that there could be only one winner, rather one survivor, while all other contenders would be dead.
When the sixteen year old Katniss Everdeen of District 12 is left with the responsibility of looking after her mother and little sister, she does it bravely by hunting illegally and trading her catch for food in the black market. As her risky life goes on she gets another blow when Prim, her 12 year old sister, is selected at the reaping. It does not take much time for Katniss to volunteer in her place, which she knows is the only way to save her sister’s life. Thus she becomes a ‘tribute’. To add to her misery, the boy selected from her district is Peeta, a person who had shown her immense kindness in the past; an act which was not easy to forget. But if she had to come back to her family, the only way was to kill him as well as the twenty two others and think of nothing else but survival.
The author is Suzanne Collins, an American television writer who lives in Connecticut. She has to her credit the much-loved Underland Chronicles. The two other books in the Hunger Games series are Catching Fire and Mockingjay. The first book has been adapted into a movie recently with Jennifer Lawrence playing the lead role.