Readalikes: "The Hunger Games"

When fans of the popular YA dystopian trilogy The Hunger Games come to the library, they're often looking for a similar read. Since the bookshelves of libraries (and bookstores) are swimming with a vast array of dystopian fiction for the choosing, I usually try to narrow it down a bit by asking what it is, precisely, the reader liked about The Hunger Games. The action?  The politics?  The strong leading character?

Everyone's answer is different, of course. But one answer many fans give is that they like the Games themselves. Or, perhaps, not precisely the games -- but the rites of passages, and subsequent choices, that lead the characters into them.

The Hunger Games is not the only story to show a dystopian society's rite of passage lead to unintended consequences -- not only for the main characters, but for the worlds they inhabit. Here are three more to try:

Uglies - Scott Westerfeld

Tally Youngblood's sixteenth birthday is approaching, and she couldn't be more excited. Her whole life, she's been living with the "Uglies," the slang name given to the city's children. But once you hit sixteen, you get to become a "Pretty," undergoing a surgical procedure that transforms your appearance into one of beautiful perfection. She'll get to leave behind her old life and take up residence in Prettytown, where she'll be beautiful, popular, and able to fill her days with clothes, parties, and unending fun.

But then she meets Shay, a fellow Ugly who doesn't seem to understand how great being a Pretty will be. Much to Tally's surprise, Shay's planning to run away to escape her surgery. Shay, it turns out, has a suspicion that there's a price to pay to become a Pretty. And she thinks the people of the Smoke -- a group of protestors who have rejected the Pretty life -- may have the answer.

Tally won't go with her, but she wishes Shay the best -- at least until the governmental department of Special Circumstances step in and offer Tally a choice. They know about the Smoke, and they want to put an end to it. So if Tally ever wants to become a Pretty, she has to make a choice: follow Shay to the Smoke and betray her best friend and her new home to the authorities, or remain an Ugly forever.

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Atlantia - Ally Condie

Author Ally Condie is primarily known for her dystopian-esque trilogy Matched. But I liked this one better -- a standalone novel that tells the story of Rio, who has grown up alongside her twin sister, Bay, in the underwater city of Atlantia. Rio's always dreamed of leaving her world beneath the waves behind, and it looks like her chance has finally come. But when her sister uses their coming-of-age ceremony to escape the Below, she leaves Rio trapped in Atlantia -- with no way out.

Rio, already reeling from her mother's death several months before, now finds herself betrayed and alone in the Below. But then, Rio's used to being alone: she's had to hide her secret all her life. Rio is a siren, and if anyone were to discover her powers, everything would change.

Forming unexpected alliances with True, who also lost his best friend to the Above, Rio is determined to find a way to the surface. But then her mother's sister, Maire, shares secrets of Atlantia with Rio that she never could have expected -- and suddenly, it's not just Rio and Bay whose lives are at stake, but rather the whole of Atlantia.

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Divergent - Veronica Roth

Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), Erudite (the intelligent), Abnegation (the selfless), and Candor (the honest). You'll forgive me if the Factions of Tris's world put me just slightly in mind of the different Hogwarts Houses from the world of Harry Potter.

Tris's city is divided up into these five Factions. She's grown up in Abnegation, but it's never been the Faction for her; she knows she can never be selfless enough to be happy there. Like Hogwarts, Tris and her fellow students must undergo something of a test to see which Faction they would be best suited to be in -- but despite what the test results show, the choice still remains in each students' hands. And so Tris does not let her (eerily inconclusive) test results stop her from choosing the people she's always wanted to be with: the Dauntless.

But the world of the Dauntless is not always what Tris expected. Bravery here seems to be defined as recklessness more than true courage, and Tris finds herself testing her loyalties to herself and her friends, as well as the world she's grown up in. It doesn't help that Tris carries a secret: she's not really Dauntless nor Abengation, but rather something else entirely: Divergent. But when she uncovers a secret about the very fabric of her society, Tris finds herself drawn into something she's not sure she'll ever be able to find her way out of.

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-- Post by Ms. B 

The Girl on Fire

It's been a little over two weeks since The Hunger Games: Catching Fire was released and it still tops the box office charts. In that short time it has grossed almost $300 million in the US alone. Adding in international receipts, it has grossed more than $570 million. It seems that the films are turning out to be just as popular as Suzanne Collins's books.

In case you don't know anything about The Hunger Games trilogy I'll give you a little synopsis. Katniss Everdeen is a young woman struggling to survive in a future, dystopian world. She volunteers to take her sister's place in The Hunger Games, the annual fight to the death of teenagers from across the ruins of what was once the United States. Her surprising victory has made her an enemy of the President and has lit a fire of resistance throughout the districts. Katniss, along with her friends and family, become a part of this fight that will cost them more than they could ever imagine.

Read on for reviews of the film, an interview with author Suzanne Collins and links to the books and films in our collection!

From the Web:

- "Striking Where Myth Meets Moment" - The New York Times review.

- "'Hunger Games: Catching Fire' gets spark from Lawrence" - USA Today review.

- "Jennifer Lawrence is a force once again in darker 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire'" - The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette review.

- "'Hunger Games' author Suzanne Collins, in rare interview, muses on war and the cycle of violence" - Christian Science Monitor.

- "'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire': Are you an expert? Take our quiz" - Christian Science Monitor.

From the Collection:

The Hunger Games (book 1)

Catching Fire (book 2) 

Mockingjay (book 3) 

The Hunger Games (motion picture)

And may the odds be ever in your favor!

-- Post by Tracy

Team Katniss

If you're reading this (and are, therefore, a person with internet access), I'm thinking you've heard something about The Hunger Games. News of this new film release has been obsessively reported in trailers, TV spots, interviews, magazines, websites, and more (you may even remember us mentioning it in a post from last January). Wherever you go, the Games have been impossible to miss.

That's pretty much in keeping with the original idea of the Games themselves, as presented in Suzanne Collins's popular young adult trilogy of novels. The books tells the story of Katniss, a sixteen-year-old girl living in post-apocalyptic America. Throughout the first novel, Katniss has one goal: to be the champion of the 74th annual Hunger Games, a contest run by the government and broadcast live (reality-TV style) to the population of the twelve Districts. (Viewing of the Games by the Districts' citizens is strictly mandatory.) How to win the Games? Simple: be the last person left alive.

The books have been best-sellers for several years -- but a best-selling novel doesn't always guarantee a box office blockbuster. For every Harry Potter or Twilight film franchise, there's failed attempts like The Golden Compass, Eragon, and A Series of Unfortunate Events. And yet, when it comes to The Hunger Games, something about the story has truly caught audiences -- and film critics -- on fire.

The movie opened to rave reviews, with critics praising the strong story, acting performances, and attention to detail given in the book-to-movie translation. And it's not just critics who are impressed. The debuting Hunger Games has smashed box office records, earning $19.74 million at its initial midnight showing alone (and making it the highest-grossing midnight release ever for a non-sequel film). Its final opening weekend pull was $152.5 million, making it the third-largest all-time opening weekend for a movie ever (behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and The Dark Knight). With a $78 million dollar budget, The Hunger Games had already made back its budget nearly twice over in a single weekend and is rapidly continuing to climb.

So if you've seen the movie and are looking to learn more about the world of The Hunger Games -- or, if you haven't yet made it to the theater -- check out some of the buzz surrounding what is already one of the biggest box office blockbusters of the year.

And may the odds be ever in your favor.

(Sorry, couldn't resist.)


-- The Hunger Games: The Official Website


-- Weekend Report: 'The Hunger Games' Devours $152.5 Million - One of many BoxOfficeMojo.com articles on the Games' records-smashing success.


-- Gary Ross Answers Reader Questions About ‘The Hunger Games’ - A New York Times-featured interview with the director of the film.


-- Watching ‘The Hunger Games’ Through a Racial Lens - The Washington Post on the unexpected racist backlash over the movie casting.


-- Hunger Games: Be Easter Now! - An op/ed from the Huffington Post exploring the spiritual truths behind The Hunger Games.

-- 'The Hunger Games' Fans Filling Up Lanes at Queens Archery Ranges - The stories are inspiring a popularity boom for an old-time hobby -- archery!


-- The Hunger Games Themes That Apply to Our World Today - Reality TV? Occupy Wallstreet? A look at how Collins's story may be a particularly timely one.


-- Suzanne Collins - The author's official website.


-- Katniss Everdeen of 'The Hunger Games' vs. Bella Swan of 'Twilight' - From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Which heroine would come out on top?



-- Post by Ms. B

May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor

With the Harry Potter films complete and the Twilight series wrapping up with their final installment this coming November, Hollywood is looking for the next hit Young Adult book series to become a blockbuster movie franchise. This March will see the release of the latest book-to-film adaptation: The Hunger Games, based on the first in the bestselling series by Suzanne Collins.

Although there have been a dozen or two film adaptations in recent years based on bestselling YA books, most other book-to-movie transitions haven't seen the success of Potter or Twilight. Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Eragon, The Golden Compass, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, I Am Number Four, The Seeker: The Dark is Rising, and a slew of others have appeared on the big screens, to generally mixed results. Even Martin Scorsese's recent adaptation of The Invention of Hugo Cabret (which, strictly speaking, is based on a non-fantasy YA novel, although the story's steampunk edge gives it something of a fantasy feel) opened to rave reviews -- but it couldn't hope to match the numbers of the boy wizard and sparkling vampires.

Enter The Hunger Games.

What's the story of The Hunger Games?  Suzanne Collins opens her YA science fiction series with a premise that seems like a cross between extreme reality television and Shirley Jackson's famous short story "The Lottery." In a post-apocalyptic North America, the continent has been divided into thirteen "Districts," with the wealthy Capitol governing the Districts' people. The Games are an annual contest held by the Capitol, in which one boy and one girl, between the ages of twelve and eighteen, are chosen from each District to compete. The Games have a Survivor feel to them -- a wilderness contest of strength, endurance, and survival skills, televised live to the District citizens back home. And there's really only one rule: the winner is the last person left alive.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen isn't chosen as one of the two Tributes from District 12 -- her young sister Prim is. But Katniss becomes District 12's Tribute when she volunteers to take her sister's place in competing in the Games.

What follows is a trilogy of post-apocalyptic books about survival, courage, government control -- and, in the final book, war. The stories have a decidedly darker tone (with a decidedly darker ending) than many of their YA counterparts (even if nobody could call the final Harry Potter book a light read, by any definition of the word). Which, in some ways, may make The Hunger Games an unlikely choice as the next Potter or Twilight marketing juggernaut.

Then again, The Hunger Games has already had its share of marketing success, with a wide array of themed merchandise, including journals, jewelry, t-shirts -- even a line of nail polish. (Although, to this last, there is a precedent set by Twilight -- a Twilight-themed perfume.) And the books themselves are bestsellers, appearing on the New York Times bestseller list for over 100 consecutive weeks. There's a devoted, all-ages fanbase for these books, and the novels themselves have a rich, well-developed world and cast of characters to draw on -- all good building blocks for a successful movie.

With the second book already slated to be filmed as a sequel for release next year, Hollywood is banking on The Hunger Games to be a financial phenomenon. Expect to hear a lot about this movie in the coming months, as theaters prep for what all involved hope will become the next big blockbuster. But whether or not the film series succeeds will rest in the hands -- and wallets -- of moviegoers.


-- Post by Ms. B