Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins: The
main character of this book is Katniss, a 16-year-old girl who lives in
what used to be North America. Her father died when she was 11, and
she has been the head of her household ever since, supporting both her
mother and her younger sister, Prim. In the society that Katniss lives
in, it is tradition (and the law!) that two teenagers from each district
are randomly chosen each year to participate in the Hunger Games, a
televised competition where the kids fight each other for survival. The
winner gets to live a life of luxury (a far cry from the life of
poverty she is used to), but the losers all die. When Prim’s name is
chosen for the Hunger Games in the first chapter, Katniss volunteers to
take her place.
Briar Rose, Jane Yolen: Rebecca,
the main character, is a young woman who has always felt a close
connection to her grandmother, who was a Holocaust survivor that refused
to talk about her past. What she remembers most about her childhood is
her grandmother’s telling of the story of Briar Rose (Sleeping
Beauty). Later, while on her deathbed, her grandmother again told the
story, this time insisting that she was Briar Rose. Upon her
grandmother’s death, Becca promises to travel to Europe and look into
her grandmother’s mysterious past.
Z for Zachariah, Robert C. O’Brien:
Ann Burden, a teenager who is the main character, thinks that she is
the only person left after a nuclear war has made most of the United
States uninhabitable due to radioactive contamination. Ann lives in a
valley that has somehow escaped contamination, and has survived for a
year by cultivating the valley and continuing the family's farm. In
that year, she has often wished that she would find another person who
survived--a wish that suddenly comes true when she sees a man enter the
valley. As she watches him come closer, however, she begins to wonder
if she will encounter friend or foe.
Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card:
Ender Wiggin is a young teen genius living in future. He has been
selected by international military forces to be the savior of humanity
against a second wave of invading bug-aliens who are bent on destroying
the earth. He is sent to Battle School, a floating school in space,
where he is trained with virtual reality games in combat techniques.
Being the new kid in the school, and fairly young, he is picked on by
several of his classmates, and has to fight hard to get respect.
Fortunately, he learns quickly to become the best of the best. However,
at the end of book, you are left wondering if he is a hero or a
monster. If you like The Matrix, or District 9, or any of the Harry
Potter movies/books, you will love this one.
