By Stephanie Kennett 
Picture this: You’re out in a deserted, fighting for your life, and the only way to survive is to hunt… people. That is what it is like when you’ve been chosen to be a part of the Hunger Games.
This is the plot of the upcoming movie, “The Hunger Games,” adapted from Suzanne Collins’s novel  of the same name.  The movie is due out in theatres in the spring of 2012, so there is still plenty of  time to read the novel!
“The Hunger Games” is an epic story about a dystopian world, much like that of Orwell’s “1984,” that holds the Hunger Games once a year. Twenty-four contestants are chosen, thrown into an unknown territory and play the game until one person wins.  The object of the game is to kill everyone else and be the last one standing. 
“I absolutely loved the books,” says Gabrielle Keegan, a Fitchburg State University student who read the book for her class.
“It was Young Adult Literature with Beth Fullerton,” says Athina DeAndrade, also a student at Fitchburg State University. She says the rest of the class loved this book as well.  The class spent three days in discussion on it.
The first book came out in 2008, then the second two, “Catching Fire” and “Mockingjay,” came out shortly after that. Each book has been on the New York Times Bestseller list, the USA Today Bestseller list, and the Wall Street Journal Bestseller list.
Even the big name authors love this series. “[The Hunger Games] is a violent, jarring speed-rap of a novel that generates nearly constant suspense… I couldn’t stop reading,” Stephen King told Entertainment Weekly.
“It took me 2 days to read it,” says DeAndrade of the nearly 400-page book. “I would definitely recommend this to other people. It’s an easy and captivating read.”
“It took me about a week to read the first one because it was during school,” says Keegan. “It took about 4 days to read the next two. The author does a great job of keeping the reader engaged. She gives the characters such human qualities that it makes you really connect with them and you find yourself feeling all of their emotions.”
It has recently been announced that Academy Award nominee Jennifer Lawrence, fresh from her compelling portrayal in “Winter’s Bone,” will be starring as main character Katniss Everdeen.