In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games, " a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is volunteers to take her sister's place in the Games. The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. But Katniss has been close to death before, and survival for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love. Here the author explores the effects of war and violence on those coming of age. -- From book jacket.

"Book design by Phil Falco"--t.p. verso.

The tributes -- The games -- The victor.