Hunger Games

For eleven years I ran the Vista del Valle school library. I don't have library training, but I had read so many children's books and could help children choose books that they would enjoy. I kept current with the popular and new books.

Three and a half years ago I relinquished the library so I could focus on teaching music. Since then, I have read very few children's and YA (young adult) books. The buzz around The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is pretty big, so when I saw a copy in the staff room, I grabbed it.

Set in a future, grimmer world, The Hunger Games imagines a Survivor-type reality show in which the contestants don't vote each other off the show, but make sure their opponents die. Readers who enjoyed The Giver by Lois Lowry, The White Mountains by John Christopher and Running Out of Time by Margaret Haddix and other dystopian novels will also enjoy this one (or all three of the trilogy).