What I’m Reading: Dystopian Fiction

Posted October 24, 2008
Filed under: Awards |

Thanks to a member of the Teen Advisory Board who recommended this wonderful book, I’ve found one of my favorite novels of 2008!

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is an amazing work of dystopian fiction. Set in a futuristic North America, the capital, Panem, controls the 12 districts with authoritarian rule. Every year two teens from each district are chosen via lottery to participate in the Hunger Games, a fight to the death that brings glory and wealth to the winner and their district. The “tributes” must endure harsh natural obstacles, finding food, water, and shelter; all while being hunted by the other tributes. Katniss Everdeen volunteers for the Games to save her younger sister, who was chosen from the lottery. Thus begins Katniss’s journey from the depths of poverty to the opulence of the capital to the frightening reality that is the Hunger Games.

Other great YA dystopian novels I’ve read:
The Giver by Lois Lowry

Uglies; Pretties; Specials; and Extras by Scott Westerfeld

Feed by M.T. Anderson

The Declaration by Gemma Malley

The Silenced by James DeVita