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

The Secret Under My Skin by Janet McNaughton

(264 p., Call Number: Y FICTION MCNAUGHTON, JANET sci-fi)

In the year 2368, Newfoundland, teenager Blay Raytee works in the landfill mines, digging for remnants of the human society that was devastated by a manmade, technology-induced ecological disaster. The Earth is only beginning to recover from the ecological depredations of previous centuries; meanwhile, survivors live in isolated colonies, under the thumb of a faceless "Commission" thanks to an orchestrated, wholesale slaughter of scientists, billed the Technocaust, a few years before. Due to her love of reading, Blay is chosen to help Marella, the new bio-indicator, with her studies. In the past, these individuals, whose bodies react to poisons in the environment, served as warning mechanisms for others, but now, as the Earth heals and the danger lessens, they are expected to collect and interpret scientific data. As she helps Marella pass a series of tests, Blay discovers that she has a natural talent for science. As she starts to live a more normal life, she realizes how misled she has been by the people in charge of her society, and uncovers secrets about history and her own past that the Commission wants to keep buried.

Hunger Games fans will quickly pick up on the themes of a strong teenage protaganist rebelling against a draconian order that dictates the rules of society.
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