Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Warning - some spoilers ahead (but not enough to ruin the book for you!)


The sequel to The Hunger Games is here! I gave Amazon.com about two weeks to offer in a Kindle edition, then I could wait no more and bought the hard-copy at Barnes & Noble.

I read it in one sitting.

Collins brings all the excitement and drama of the first book back and spins it in an entirely different way.

Catching Fire takes place in the year following the unusual and unprecedented finale of Katniss' Hunger Games. Katniss learns that she has become more than just a Victor - she has become a symbol of defiance and hope to the dejected peoples of most of the Districts. Even people in the Capitol; spoiled, carefree, and completely immune to the horrors of the games; are paying attention to Katniss. Unwittingly, Katniss begins to fan the flames of revolution - and her fire begins catching in the other Districts of Panem as the next Hunger Games - a "Quarter Quell" in which even nastier than usual trials are set for the Tributes- begin.

I recommend this book to 6th grade and up.
I think readers will take away something deeper than a survival story. These books raise a few larger issues of what it means to be loyal, what it means to survive, and what it means to be aware.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games is a fast-paced survival story set in a not-too-far-away future in a nation called Panem. Katniss, the protagonist, routinely ignores the harsh laws of her world in order to hunt game and gather food for her family, her mother and younger sister, Prim.
On Reaping Day, all children between 12 and 18 are entered into a lottery to be selected for The Hunger Games - a terrible kill-or-be-killed 'game' that takes place in the Capitol, for the rest of Panem to watch. Each of the twelve districts must send two 'tributes' to participate and, if they are lucky enough to be the one survivor, bring glory and extra resources to their district.
This book begins on Prim's first Reaping Day. When the unthinkable happens, Katniss volunteers to go in her place - and finds herself thrown into a world of obvious and not-so-obvious danger.

I could not put this book down.
I recommend it for 6th grade and up.