Spoiler-free book guide
The Hunger Games
Book 1 of 3 in The Hunger Games · by Suzanne Collins
How it opens
On reaping day in District 12, Katniss Everdeen slips under the fence at dawn to hunt in the woods with her friend Gale. Every year each district must give up one girl and one boy, whose names are drawn at the reaping, to fight to the death in the Hunger Games. When the Capitol escort Effie Trinket draws the name of Katniss's twelve-year-old sister, Prim, Katniss volunteers to take her place. The boy drawn next is Peeta Mellark, the baker's son, who years ago tossed Katniss two burned loaves when her family was starving.
Who you meet early
- Katniss EverdeenKatniss Everdeen hunts illegally in the woods outside District 12 to keep her family fed, and volunteers as tribute when her younger sister's name is drawn at the reaping.
- Primrose EverdeenKatniss Everdeen's younger sister in District 12, gentle and slight but sharper than she looks, with a goat named Lady and a cat named Buttercup.
- Gale HawthorneKatniss Everdeen's hunting partner and closest friend in District 12, Gale Hawthorne poaches beyond the fence to feed his family and says openly what most of the district will not: that the Capitol's rule is unjust.
- Peeta MellarkA baker's son from District 12 and one of the two tributes reaped there for the 74th Hunger Games, Peeta Mellark is broad-shouldered, easygoing, and better with words than almost anyone around him.
- Effie TrinketThe Capitol escort for District 12's tributes, who draws the names at the reaping and manages everything after it.
- Haymitch AbernathyHaymitch Abernathy is District 12's mentor for its Hunger Games tributes and one of its two past victors, a paunchy man of middle age who turns up drunk to the reaping.
- Madge UnderseeThe mayor's daughter in District 12 and one of Katniss Everdeen's few friends at school.
- Mayor UnderseeMayor Undersee was the relatively lenient mayor of District 12, known for trying to improve conditions in a district with no shortage of problems.
Where it sits
The Hunger Games is the first of 3 books in The Hunger Games. Start here.
Next · Book 2
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