The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Reviewed by BridgetRatings
Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content
LANGUAGE
VIOLENCE
SEXUAL CONTENT
ADULT THEMES
Title: The Hunger Games
Author: Suzanne Collins
New York Times Bestselling Author
Ratings Explanation
Violence: Katniss is a hunter. She cleans her kill. Katniss’ father is blown to bits in a mine explosion. Katniss could be shot on a daily basis for hunting. Peeta Mellark is brutally struck by his mother when he burns two loaves of bread and later sneaks them to Katniss, who is starving. Peeta’s cheek swells and his eye is blackened. As Katniss and Peeta are both drawn as tributes for District 12, Katniss thinks, “Thank you won’t seem sincere when she is trying to slit his throat. Oh, well… There will be twenty-four of us. Odds are someone else will kill him before I do.” Boys and girls from the wealthier district are trained to kill from an early age. Katniss recounts previous Hunger Games and the manner is which the contestants die; bludgeoning one another with spiked maces, starvation, thirst, venomous snakes, extreme cold. She also recounts extremely vicious kills. Katniss grapples with how terrible it will be to kill another. Haymitch punches Peeta in the jaw. Katniss drives her knife into the table, barely missing Haymitch’s fingers. Katniss reproaches herself constantly for falling prey to Peeta’s kindness. “Don’t be so stupid. Peeta is planning how to kill you, he is luring you in to make you easy prey.” The servants in the Capitol are Avox’s. Avox’s are traitors who are punished by having their tongues cut out. Katniss is reminded why she is in the Capitol, “to die a bloody death while the crowds urge on my killer.” The roof of the Training Center has an electrical field surrounding, in case a tribute tries to commit suicide, the field will throw them back on the roof. Katniss loses her temper with the Gamemaker’s ignoring of her skills. Katniss skewers the apple in the pig’s mouth with her arrow as the Gamemaker’s look on in disbelief. Katniss shoves Peeta into an urn, which shatters and his hands are cut. Brief mention of cannibalism in previous games, eating someone’s heart after they were killed. When the games begin, Katniss grapples for a backpack. The boy coughs and splatters her face with blood. She then sees the knife in his back. A girl runs towards Katniss clutching half a dozen knives, the blade lodges in Katniss’ backpack as she flees. A pack, the strong, band together to hunt down the weak, then when the tension becomes too great, they being to turn on one another. The Gamemaker’s set the woods on fire to flush the tributes out of hiding and force them to fight. The Gamemaker’s shoot fireballs at Katniss, to make the game more interesting to watch. A fireball skids across Katniss’ left calf, severely burning her. Katniss cuts down a deadly hive of Tracker Jackets. The hive falls on her opponents. A tribute dies. Cato catches an opponent in a headlock and breaks his neck. Rue is speared to death. Katniss immediately avenges Rue’s death, with an arrow to the young boys neck. Cato slices Peeta’s leg to the bone. Thresh kills Clove with a rock in the temple of her head. The dead tributes have been altered into “Mutations”, huge wolves, who are let loose on Katniss, Cato and Peeta. The mutts attack Cato, who is wearing body armor. The mutts mangle Cato’s flesh all night long, through the body armor. In the morning, he is a pulpy fleshy mass who mouths “please” to Katniss. Katniss performs a mercy killing by shooting him in the mouth with an arrow. Katniss and Peeta contemplate suicide as the rules of the Hunger Games are changed and they are faced with killing one another.
Sexual Content: Gale hugs Katniss goodbye and she is more aware of his body than ever before. Jabberjays mate with female mockingbirds. Katniss’ entire body in waxed and cleansed. Katniss stands completely nude as the three stylists circle her, wielding tweezers to remove any last bits of hair. Cinna the head stylist walks around Katniss’ naked body, not touching, but taking in every inch of it with his eyes. One year, District 12 tributes were stark naked and covered in black powder to represent coal dust. Katniss does not want to be nude on TV. Katniss kisses Peeta. Katniss and Peeta kiss again, and Katniss feels stirring inside her chest and she wants more. Peeta holds Katniss in his arms and they fall asleep for the night.
Adult Themes: Katniss’ mother must have really loved her father to leave her home for the Seam (ghetto), to see her children turned to skin and bones. Katniss is not a forgiving type. Katniss threatens her mother not to check out of caring for Prim while she is gone competing in the Hunger Games. Twelve year-old Prim needs a mother. Katniss never wants to have kids, it is to difficult to fill their bellies. Reaping: System where the poor are more likely to be drawn as tributes. You become eligible for reaping the day you turn twelve. Your name is entered once, at thirteen twice, until in your final years of eligibility, your name goes into the pool seven times. However, you can add your name more times in exchange for grain and oil to eat. Starvation is not an uncommon fate in District 12. The victims of starvation die in the street. The Peacekeepers retrieve the bodies, and starvation is never the official cause of death. The only victor in District 12′s history is Haymitch, who is currently a sloppy drunk.
Synopsis
“Panem is a country that rose up out of the ashes of a place that was once called North America. There were brutal wars for what little sustenance remained. Panem, a shining Capitol ringed by thirteen districts, brought peace and prosperity to its citizens. Then came the Dark Days, the uprising of the districts against the Capitol. Twelve districts were defeated, and the thirteenth obliterated. The Treaty of Treason gave new laws to guarantee peace and, as a yearly reminder that the Dark Days must never be repeated, it gave us the Hunger Games. The rules of the Hunger Games are simple. In punishment for the uprising, each of the twelve districts must provide one girl and one boy, called tributes, to participate. The twenty-four tributes will be imprisoned in a vast outdoor arena that could hold anything from a burning desert to a frozen wasteland. Over a period of several weeks, the competitors must fight to the death. The last tribute standing wins. Forcing the districts to watch them to kill one another – this is the Capitol’s way of reminding us how totally we are at their mercy. How little chance we would stand of surviving another rebellion. The real message is clear. Look how we take your children and sacrifice them and there’s nothing you can do. If you lift a finger, we will destroy every last one of you. Just as we did District Thirteen. To make it humiliating as well as torturous, the Capitol requires us to treat the Hunger Games as a festivity, a sporting event pitting every district against the others. The last tribute alive receives a life of ease back home, and their district will be showered with prizes, largely consisting of food. All year, the Capitol will show the winning district gifts of grain and oil and even delicacies like sugar while the rest of us battle starvation. Tribute is synonymous with corpse.” These are the words of our heroine, Katniss.
Katniss’ twelve year old sister, Primrose’s name is drawn as a tribute. Katniss volunteers to take her young sister’s place. Katniss took over as the head of her family at age eleven when her father died and her mother became severely depressed and could not care for her daughters. They were slowly starving to death. Katniss learned to hunt to sustain her mother and sister. Katniss is a strong young woman who grapples with anger towards the capitol, and her mother’s abandonment as she fends for her family. Katniss willingly fights in Prim’s place. Katniss cautiously navigates her survival throughout the games as she weighs friend and foe.
Admittedly, I was captivated by “The Hunger Games”. Unfortunately, the level of violence is extraordinarily high and extremely graphic. Although written at a 5th – 6th grade level, I cannot recommend this book for young readers. Mature readers ought to proceed with caution.
©2009 The Literate Mother
April 2nd, 2010 at 9:39 am
I’m pleased!It’s nice to see someone very excited about what they do. Thank you.
April 15th, 2010 at 7:28 pm
Just wanted to say you have a great site and thanks for posting!
April 16th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Just wanted to say you have a great site and thanks for posting!
April 24th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
Just wanted to say I really like your site and will definitely be back!
April 27th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Just bookmarked your site, thanks for sharing!
June 12th, 2010 at 8:06 am
I am so happy to have found this website! What a great job you do at reviewing these books!
We had heard the The Hunger Games was a great book. Highly recommended by many friends. I bought it for my 13 year old son. Thankfully I read it first. This book is way too mature for a 13 yr old. Frankly I was disturbed by the level of violence. I am concerned that we are expecting our kids to handle more and more at a young age.
Had I read your review I am not sure I would have read it for myself. In the future I will be checking here for the review before buying the book.
July 2nd, 2010 at 11:40 am
Very nice review. I clicked the link because I had read the book already, and was curious what you would recommend about the Hunger Games. I must state, I’m an adult in my mid-twenties and just recently read this book and was absorbed by it. After finishing the book, I spent several days having to just think over all the statements the book was trying to make. I think I was better for it. It was very heavy material, and I do believe I soaked my soul in fairy tales and happy reading material afterwords. I would suggest this as a good read to any adult. HOWEVER, I have a 16 year old sister(who is sensitive and easily disturbed), and a 14 year old brother and I have made great efforts not to praise the book in front of them. Should they ever ask me about it, I will advise them to wait until they are older. Neither of them are ready to read such material!
August 23rd, 2010 at 12:27 pm
I loved this book. Unfortunately I hadn’t heard of your website before reading it. So happy to have hooked up with your website. I am always wanting the details of the books my children are reading, but don’t have the time to read them all myself. The site also gives me good ideas of books that I might enjoy reading while helping me avoid wasting time on those I will be disappointed in. I have had the unfortunate experience of starting into a book that I thought would be inspiring, only to find it highly offensive. Thank you for all your time and information!
August 23rd, 2010 at 1:43 pm
i loved this book series and can’t wait for mockingjay. but i am grateful for this review and this website. i have a baby i love to read to and i often find myself reading a sentence and then thinking “i can’t believe i read that to my baby” and then have to scan over the next paragraph or so before continuing. i am very happy to read all the reviews. but i really loved this book myself. really great read for adults. especially if you read this and keep the holocaust in the back of your mind. they have interesting similarities. great book.
September 7th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
i think everyone (your violence/sexual content levels etc and comments from others) are attacking slightly overprotective. i read this at 13 and i do admit it was violent but with the levels of violence most kids nowadays endure its really not that shocking, i also feel the sexual content is much lower than a 3 seeing that the only true sexuality is kissing which is not shocking at all even to a 8 year old, the rest is just the fact that suzzanne collins understands humans have bodies under the clothes. now don’t feel like i’m attacking your ideas because i think you did a great job on this and i agree with most of it. by the way i really enjoyed the book and it was an assignment for going into 8th grade so all of the other new 8th graders read it.
September 8th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
Bob,
Thank you for your comment.
I agree that kissing should be rated much lower than a 3; however, I have rated this book a 3 for sexual content based on the descriptions of Katniss’s nudity. The rating rubric explains, that a 3 = Moderately High content – May be unsuitable for some children/youth in recommended age group. The nudity may be unsuitable for some youth in the recommended age group.
Collins is an extremely gifted writer. I enjoyed this series. However, I am concerned by the sheer numbers of 4th – 8th grade readers who are devouring a series which contains a high level of violence.
December 29th, 2010 at 11:46 pm
The Hunger Games is a fantastic which i at 14 years old (when it first came out) found no more disturbing than the stuff on tv at night i read it to my 11 and 8 year old sisters since i think it is important thatthey understand the themes that this book adresses it is not healthy to think you can shield your child by not letting them read
May 14th, 2011 at 9:50 pm
i may be the first one to say this: i think all of this is unnecesary. a thirteen year or even sixteen year old cant read something like this? shouldnt they be the ones deciding for themselves how mature they are? i can see why you dont want a 4th grader reading this but seventh and eighth graders? it doesnt even have any thing that explicit! i would love for my kids to pick up something like this and read it! it was a wonderful book and i will not tell lies about it. the “Sexual content” part surprised me the most. oh please. you’ve never hugged anyone or talked about animals when you were yunger? hardly any of this stuff counts as sexual content. overprotecting your kids wont help them. it’ll keep them in the blue and make life harder for them. and all you moms think this is GOOD. everytime i come to this website ( i dont even know why i bother anymore) i shake my head and think about how dumb and exagerated this is. there are worse things in life then books. in fact, books will help. maybe do something more sensible and keep them away from drugs or something. oh the outrage!
May 26th, 2011 at 12:19 pm
I am concerned that my 10 year old granddaughter who is in the 4th grade has a teacher who is reading The Hunger Games to his class.
Although I have not read the book, I don’t believe it is appropriate for her age group. She really likes the book and is an advanced reader, but still have my concerns. I am a retired English teacher who taught AP English for many years. I have no concerns with late middle school and high school students reading this book, but I have a real problem with 10 year olds reading about children killers. Am I being old fashinoned?
June 1st, 2011 at 2:49 pm
Carol,
You are not old-fashioned. You are wise.
I have read the Hunger Games Series. The series is well-written. However, the material is completely unsuitable for pre-teens. I believe it desensitizes the reader to violence. I refer to this series as “Lord of the Flies” on drugs.
Thank you so much for posting!
Sincerely,
Bridget Verhaaren
The Literate Mother
August 18th, 2011 at 8:24 am
I picked up Hunger Games when my son had borrowed it from the school library. He is 12 and I thought the concepts in the books were a bit advanced for him. He loved the books, as did I, but wasn’t comfortable talking about the events in it. I do worry about kids wanting to read about things they don’t want to talk about! Love the site, it was recommended by a librarian in my home town!
September 3rd, 2011 at 10:08 pm
I think a 3 for sexuality is a bit over the top as my 11 year old childs teacher read it to her class and they all loved it. He had no problems with it and lots of the children read the next books. I think some of the violence reviews are a bit soft. Starvation is a common problem in 3rd world countries and there is no point hiding that. Also, there is not much difference between Anne Frank and this
September 11th, 2011 at 10:43 pm
O K really – 8th graders shouldn’t read this? They are 13 going on 14, going through puberty, seeing the world for all of its hypocrisy, war, and human greed. They can see more violence on YouTube or on the News for that matter. What about the real violence of September 11th or the wars in Afghanistan and the Middle East, not to mention the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, etc, etc? We should teach our children the realities of our human existence instead of shielding them in some bubble like they don’t exist. If we as parents keep doing that, we raise up a generation just as bubble-headed and vapid as the citizens of the Capitol in the Hunger Games.
Lord of the Flies on Drugs? Where exactly are the psychedelic drugs in The Hunger Games might I ask?
October 3rd, 2011 at 7:35 pm
I don’t completely agree wiht this review. The sexual content is not near as bad as you make it out to be. The words or even remotely obvious allusions to sex are said. The “feelings” that she describes are meant to be love, not sexual tendencies. There really isn’t even much advanced content- I know I could have understood it perfectly while I was in middle school. I think younger kids could read this. I just turned 16 and just finished reading the entire series. I see no reason for a kid younger than me not to be reading it. I think it would be fine for anyone above 6th grade or so.
December 6th, 2011 at 11:34 am
I continue to be grateful to you for having this website. As I wrote to our web based group of mothers, “While I don’t agree with everything they choose to read and evaluate I am grateful that someone does so that I have the information/tools I need when discussing appropriateness (or not) of book choices. Especially those that EVERYONE is reading.”
I just looked up the Hunger Games on your site and appreciate your review. I am very surprised by many of the remarks here. Our Young Women’s president on Sunday just retold the familiar story of the man who was choosing between 3 candidates for a job driving a truck of his products up a serious mountainous road. Two of the job candidates decided to show the owner how well they drove by maneuvering the loaded truck as near to the edge of a sharp drop as they could. The third man applying for the job said that he would drive as far from the cliff as possible and was hired for the job. He respected the value the owner placed on his products enough to stay clear of any danger.
What about us? Do we value this opportunity God has given us to “choose for ourselves”? Do we follow the admonition of Paul? We all struggle with the forces pulling at us from the world. In this instance, “read this, it is so good!” Really???
As is struggle to raise my children, and now grand-children I pray each day for good strong youth to influence those under my care. Please, please continue to help Heavenly Father to bless me in my efforts.
December 8th, 2011 at 4:13 pm
Wow. I can’t believe I am reading all this. The Hungar Games is a very well written book that even my 10 year old daughter is enjoying. We talk about what is happening and what Katniss is going through. I do believe the rating system for this book is way off, especially the sexual content. There is more violence and sexual content on primetime AND cartoons. Read, watch, and play a part in what your child is doing and discuss and teach. They will get more out of it then just violence.
January 21st, 2012 at 12:33 am
I just finished reading The Hunger Games and I found it an enjoyable read, although not ranking up there with the classics. I teach writing and literature classes to students six through sixteen and I like to keep current with what they are reading. I would never dream of reading this book aloud to students under the age of 14 and I am appalled that there are teachers doing this without parental permission. The book is graphic in portraying violence, it introduces themes that children might find quite disturbing, and it isn’t a book to be taken lightly. As I read I felt an overwhelming sense of hopelessness and grief, feelings that most children have difficulty coming to terms with on their own without parental guidance. I am saddened that there seems to be this urgency in our society to expose our kids to the evil acts perpetrated by mankind when we should be first grounding them with a sense of hope and security. There is time enough when they have reached maturity to become acquainted with grief, what is the rush? That said, I think it’s a good book for the 14+ crowd and would make for great discussion times. My 14 year old daughter and I talked about the persecution of Christians in Rome and the potential for that in the future, and what it means to act on faith and to make decisions that go against cultural expectations. My daughter just finished reading two of Jane Austen’s books and “shakes her head” when people call “The Hunger Games” good literature. She said she didn’t really like it very much and that she would rather spend her time reading classical books.
I agree with the sentiments of “The Literate Mother” that we should proceed with caution.