This is a guest diary by one of my daughters, "Annie" West who is ten.
I'm always looking for new books. After I read all seven Harry Potter books over eight times I was looking for another series to read. I found the Percy Jackson series. I loved them for a while and then got tired of them. I still loved Harry Potter so I knew Percy Jackson was not the best book for me. My school librarian (who had given me Percy Jackson) gave me The Hunger Games Trilogy, and loved it more than Harry Potter.
Here is why I love The Hunger Games so much:
Below is what Book I is about:
The Hunger Games is about a country called Panem that rose out of the ashes of what used to be North America. There were thirteen districts and the Capitol. All the districts had to make something that was then shipped to the Capitol. They lived in peace for some time and then the districts got tired of doing everything for the Capitol and decided to rebel.
(Ed. note: I am informed that no spoiler alert is necessary, but . . .)
The Capitol defeated twelve districts and destroyed the thirteenth. To punish the districts for rebelling against the Capitol, the Capitol created the Hunger Games, where one boy and one girl from each district from the ages of twelve to eighteen are randomly drawn from a ball during a time called The Reaping. They have to fight to the death in an arena. Only the winner survives. The winners are called Victors. They live in the Victors Village and have unlimited money and supplies for the rest of their lives.
When Katniss Everdeen's sister's name is drawn in the district Twelve Reaping, she volunteers for her. Now Katniss has to fight to the death in an arena while her little sister watches her kill or be killed. Her district partner, Peeta Mellark, confesses his love for her at the same time.
The Hunger Games is filled with romance, violence and awesomeness!
Some people might find the violence disturbing but I don't! I don't know why. :)
I've heard that The Hunger Games is beginning to be popular among adults as well -- that was the key to making Harry Potter the phenomenon that it was.
What do you think?