Scholastic USA/Canada. Scholastic UK. Suzanne Collins Website. Wikipedia. The book received mostly positive feedback from major reviewers and authors.
It was praised for its storyline and character development, though some reviewers have noted similarities between Collins' book and Koushun Takami's Battle Royale (1999). In writing The Hunger Games, Collins drew upon Greek mythology, Roman gladiatorial games, and contemporary reality television for thematic content. The novel won many awards, including the California Young Reader Medal, and was named one of Publishers Weekly's "Best Books of the Year" in 2008.
Background Collins has said that the inspiration for The Hunger Games came from channel surfing on television. Plot Katniss and Peeta are taken to the Capitol, where their drunken mentor, Haymitch Abernathy, victor of the 50th Hunger Games, instructs them to watch and determine the strengths and weaknesses of the other tributes.
Themes The Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins in 2010 "The rules are arbitrary, unfathomable, and subject to sudden change.