The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins tells the story of a dystopian future North America called Panem, whose rulers maintain control through a televised survival competition, pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against each other. Sixteen-year-old Katniss volunteers to take her younger sister's place in the games, and despite this act of selflessness, she becomes entirely focused on survival at any cost. The question soon becomes not whether she'll merely survive the competition, but whether she'll lose her humanity in the process.

The Hunger Games have proven to be such a popular book at Marlon Park Public Library that this blog has been created to highlight other books similar to the hunger games that teens may also enjoy.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Hole in the Sky by Pete Hautman

(179 p., Available Through Interlibrary Loan)

In 2028 a killer flu ravages the human race, wiping out more than five billion people and leaving only the unexposed, those who have yet to contract the disease, and the Survivors, who are now immune but suffer losses ranging from sensory impairment to delusions. Now, in 2038, with the flu on its third wave, four teens living in refuge in the Grand Canyon--Ceej, an unexposed; his friend Tim; his girlfriend, Isabella, the last Hopi; and his Survivor sister Harryette, left mute by the disease--desperately search for a way to keep the Canyon from being flooded while avoiding the Kinka, Survivor cultists who consider themselves "chosen" and seek to spread the disease among the unexposed. Added to this is Isabella's unshaken belief in the existence of a Hopi portal that will lead her, and Ceej, to a better world.

Fans of the Hunger Games will appreciate this tale of teenagers facing impossible odds of survival in a world left to ruin.

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