The Hunger Games. (challenged book)

"Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with every one out to make sure you don't live to see the morning? 

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. 

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning 
to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love."-Goodreads.

374 pages

Published October 1st 2008 by Scholastic, Inc..

I almost regret taking so long to read this book (I say almost because since I waited all the books are out and I won't have to wait for anymore to be released). I saw it in the bookstore right around the time that it was released but decided to wait on it and kind of forgot that I wanted to read it until recently with all the hype of Mockingjay being released. I bought it last week at Border's and when I started it I could not stop reading. Since I haven't read the entire trilogy I cannot yet say they are all my favorite, but I can say that The Hunger Games is now one of my favorite books. 

Dystopian is one of my favorite type of stories and this definitely hit the spot. It's a very intense story. Great characters, riveting plot, the writing is amazing...it's just an all around fantastic read.

And for right now, I am Team Peeta. LOVED him! I hope he stays sweet and amazing in the next two books.

If you haven't read this book, read it soon! I don't want you missing out any longer than you have to.

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Banned Books Year Read: (even though it is only a challenged book, that fits in my qualifications for my banned book year)

Now on to the challenged book part. Sometimes I hate the internet. When I searched for this one being a banned book I just got a bunch of links to other people asking if it was banned...BUT I did find one story that stood out to me.

A mother from New Hampshire challenged the book and wanted it removed from her 11 yr old daughter's entire school district after she started having nightmares because of the book, and she also thought that it would desensitize other kids to violence. You can read the entire article HERE.

Now this article states that the mother had not read the series, but other ones that I read said she had...but more often than not they do not read them so I'll go with she didn't.

I can understand an 11 yr old getting scared. As I said before, it is an intense story, and it is violent. If I had a child and found out she had to read it for school I would have read it with her because there are some things to be learned from the story. And I do not believe it will desensitize kids to violence. Most of the characters playing in the games do not feel right about having to kill and it shows them standing up against something they feel is wrong.

One comment that someone made on another version of the article that I liked was something to the effect of that school history classes teach about gladiators going into rings and fighting until the death so if that scares one kid are they going to stop teaching about roman gladiator history? No. So why should this be pulled?

I suggest reading the article. But if you haven't read the book yet, do not read the comments as people have posted spoilers in them.