The Hunger Games is a best-selling young adult dystopian novel, the first in Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games trilogy. It details the life of teenage heroine Katniss Everdeen as she fights to the death for the entertainment of her fascist government. Since its publication in 2008, the trilogy has sold more than 65 million copies in the United States alone and, in 2019, was listed as one of 100 most influential novels by BBC News. The Hunger Games books were adapted into films starring Jennifer Lawrence. The film series is also highly acclaimed, resulting in 55 awards and 140 award nominations.

Plot Summary

The story takes place in Panem, a postapocalyptic America divided into districts that are controlled by the Capitol. Protagonist and first-person narrator Katniss Everdeen is from District 12, which supplies the coal that powers the nation. The districts suffer from poverty and oppression made worse by the fact that every year, two “tributes” from each district must fight to the death in the Hunger Games. Those tributes are always children.

The book begins with Katniss and her younger sister Prim preparing for the reaping, the ceremony in which tributes are chosen. Katniss reflects on her role in her family. Her father died five years ago in an explosion at the coal mine. Since then, her mother has been despondent and neglectful. Katniss is a proficient hunter with a host of survival skills learned from her father and her friend Gale, which she uses to provide for her family.

At the reaping, Peeta, a boy Katniss’s age, is selected. So is Prim. To save her sister, Katniss volunteers to take Prim’s place. After, Katniss remembers the first time she met Peeta. He gave her bread from his family’s bakery because she was starving and was punished for it. The two have barely interacted since, but Katniss hopes she won’t have to kill Peeta, as that would be a poor way to repay his kindness.

The tributes are taken to the Capitol, where they meet the other tributes; their trainer, Haymitch; and their team of stylists led by Cinna, who befriends Katniss. Haymitch promises Peeta and Katniss that he will stay sober during their games to try to get them sponsors, who can send life-saving supplies to the tributes. Thanks to Cinna’s styling efforts, Katniss and Peeta become stars in the Capitol. The tributes then go to the training center, where they are assigned odds of winning. Katniss impresses and frightens the Gamemakers by shooting an arrow into their midst. During a televised interview prior to the games, Peeta tells host Caesar Flickerman that he is in love with Katniss, entrancing the audience by spinning a tragic love story.

The games begin the next day. About half the tributes die trying to grab supplies from a large cornucopia at the arena’s center, but Katniss heads for the forest. She quickly learns that the Gamemakers can change the arena when they light a forest fire that chases her away from its rim. She camps in a tree to avoid a group of tributes who have allied and are hunting her. Katniss is shocked to discover Peeta among them. Another tribute hiding in a nearby tree—Rue, a girl near Prim’s age—helps Katniss escape by pointing out a tracker jacker nest (tracker jackers are stinging insects that cause hallucinations and large welts) in Katniss’s tree.

When Katniss saws off the tree branch with the nest, the group below scatters, and one among them dies from stings. Katniss takes the dead girl’s arrows to use with her bow. Stung three times herself, Katniss passes out from the venom. When she wakes, Rue has saved her with plants to draw the venom out. The pair form an alliance and devise a plan to attack the Careers, the group trying to hunt Katniss. The Careers are hording a food supply, and Katniss and Rue plan to destroy that too. Rue will set fires to lure the Careers away from their base, and Katniss will destroy their supply. When Katniss realizes they buried mines to protect the stash, she triggers one of the mines, successfully blowing up the supply. Although Katniss survives, Rue is attacked. Katniss tries to save her but arrives only in time for Rue to die in her arms. Reminded of her sister, Katniss buries Rue with flowers in defiance of the Capitol.

The rules then change: Two tributes will be permitted to win, so long as they’re from the same district. Katniss realizes she and Peeta can both live and goes to find him. He is injured, but she looks after him until he heals, with the help of medicine that Katniss nearly dies to obtain. She learns that Peeta was trying to throw off the Careers from hunting her, and the two play into a charade of romance to elicit more support from sponsors. Prior to the climax, they find toxic nightlock berries, which Katniss keeps.

The Gamemakers force Katniss and Peeta out of their cave toward the arena’s center. There they find Cato—one of the Careers and the only other surviving tribute—who is being chased by muttations, hideous hounds with the eyes of fallen tributes. After they defeat Cato, an announcement declares that only one tribute may survive. Katniss convinces Peeta that they should eat the nightlock berries and die together. Right before they are about to kill themselves, they are both proclaimed champions of the Hunger Games. They return to a life of plenty in District 12, but the danger is only just beginning. The Capitol now has a target on Katniss due to her rebellious actions, which sets the stage for the novel’s sequels, Catching Fire and Mockingjay.