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The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Young adult fiction done the right way.
I’m a little behind the bandwagon this time. Most of the people I know out there have already consumed and fallen in love with Suzanne Collins and her post-America, dystopia where teenagers are pitted against one another in televised gladiatorial games where they fight to the death. I’m not sure how much I can add in the way of an actual book review that will change the mind of anyone out there that might be considering reading them. By now, you either will read them or you won’t, I’m sure.
Please do.
It isn’t the story or characters, though they are both expertly crafted in this series, it’s the raw, gritty and realistic way Collin’s handles issues without getting herself slapped into a banned book pile. Although I’m sure she’s gotten plenty, considering she has rampant violence, homosexual characters, an anti-government sentiment that would make the Occupy Wall Street protestors look like Republican congressmen, and more than one reference to the full Brazilian, but hey, at least there’s no sex or racism, right?
Warning: This ain’t your momma’s Young Adult Fiction
I grew up reading the books that my mom loved to read, the Little House series and the like. They had there moments and are extremely great books that I recommend, but the scariest book I read as a kid was probably Watership Down, well, at least until I got into horror in Junior High. Of course, if you’ve read Watership Down, you know there is some serious nightmare fuel in there.
What I’m saying is, if your kids wet the bed because Harry Potter gives them bad dreams. You want to wait a few years for this book series.
But make them read it, before they leave high school and think about entering the real world. They should go into life thinking about this bleak and very possible future.
A good time to give The Hunger Games to someone is when they are about to pick up Twilight or Eragon, even if their nighttime psyche isn’t ready for some of the terrifying visuals (and no one’s is, not even Patrick Bateman), it is better to have scary dreams for a few nights than to suffer through a lifetime of knowing you have read either of those books.
So, basically, give them Harry Potter and The Sorceror’s Stone at like age 10, and by the time they finish Deathly Hallows they’re probably ready to read The Hunger Games.
If you haven’t read them yet, and I’ve swayed you to do so…
Then you need to read them now, RIGHT NOW, before the movie comes out and ruins it all for you.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S9a5V9ODuY
You won’t be dissapointed.
Pick up the all three books of the Hunger Games Trilogy in hardback or paper back from [amazon_link id=”0545265355″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Amazon[/amazon_link], or listen to it from Audible.