The+Hunger+Games

__The Hunger Games__

"The plot is front and center here—the twists and turns are addictive, particularly when the romantic subplot ups the ante—yet the Capitol’s oppression and exploitation of the districts always simmers just below the surface, waiting to be more fully explored in future volumes. Collins has written a compulsively readable blend of science fiction, survival story, unlikely romance, and social commentary." //--Horn Book,// STARRED REVIEW

"What happens if we choose entertainment over humanity? In Collins's world, we'll be obsessed with grooming, we'll talk funny, and all our sentences will end with the same rise as questions. When Katniss is sent to stylists to be made more telegenic before she competes, she stands naked in front of them, strangely unembarrassed. “They're so unlike people that I'm no more self-conscious than if a trio of oddly colored birds were pecking around my feet,” she thinks. In order not to hate these creatures who are sending her to her death, she imagines them as pets. It isn't just the contestants who risk the loss of their humanity. It is all who watch."

//--Publishers Weekly, Megan Whalen Turner,// STARRED REVIEW


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[|GREGOR THE OVERLANDER: BOOK ONE IN THE UNDERLAND CHRONICLES] Meet Gregor, a kid from New York City, who falls out of his laundry room into a fantastical subterranean world called the Underland. Accompanied by his toddler sister, Boots, he encounters giant talking creatures-- cockroaches, bats, spiders and rats--and an unusual society of humans. And they’re all expecting him...(Scholastic Press, 2003)
 * Other works by Suzanne Collins:

[|GREGOR AND THE PROPHECY OF BANE: BOOK TWO IN THE UNDERLAND CHRONICLES] When giant roaches kidnap Boots and spirit her back to the Underland, Gregor follows to retrieve her. Soon he discovers that they are both implicated in “The Prophecy of Bane,” which warns of the dangers of a terrifying white rat. Guess whose job it is to destroy it? (Scholastic Press, 2004)

[|GREGOR AND THE CURSE OF THE WARMBLOODS: BOOK THREE IN THE UNDERLAND CHRONICLES] Gregor and Boots must return to the Underland to help find a cure for a deadly plague called the Curse of the Warmbloods. Gregor is desperate to succeed because, along with several of his Underland friends, a member of his own family is stricken. (Scholastic Press, 2005)

[|GREGOR AND THE MARKS OF SECRET: BOOK FOUR IN THE UNDERLAND CHRONICLES] Gregor sets out to solve a mystery involving the Underland mice and ends up discovering a terrible secret. This book leads right into the fifth and final book of the series, "Gregor and the Code of Claw."

[|GREGOR AND THE CODE OF CLAW: BOOK FIVE IN THE UNDERLAND CHRONICLES] Everyone in the Underland has been taking great pains to keep The Prophecy of Time from Gregor. Gregor knows it must say something awful but he never imagined just how awful: It calls for the warrior's death. Now, with an army of rats approaching, and his mom and sister still in Regalia, Gregor the warrior must gather up his courage to help defend Regalia and get his family home safely. The entire existence of the Underland is in Gregor's hands, and time is running out. There is a code to be cracked, a mysterious new princess, Gregor's burgeoning dark side, and a war to end all wars.

[|WHEN CHARLIE MCBUTTON LOST POWER] When a thunderstorm knocks out the electricity, Charlie McButton's whole tech empire comes tumbling down. He needs batteries–FAST. But the only batteries are inside his baby sister's beloved talking doll. Will he resort to desperate measures, and cause his sister to have a meltdown of her own? Or will he snap out of his computer craze long enough to realize sisters can be fun, even without batteries? (Penguin Group, 2005)