The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins. I was looking for a book for my middle daughter (13) and heard this was a good book. It's a FANTASTIC book and she loved it as well. It's set in a future where the US (and seemingly the rest of the world) has been wiped out and been replaced by Panem. The capital city is surrounded by 13 "districts" that each specialize in providing one kind of goods or services to the capital. There had been a rebellion by the districts against the capital that was won by the capital and one of the districts was destroyed. In order to discourage further uprising, the capital instituted the hunger games.
Each year, each district chooses by lot, one girl and one boy to participate in the hunger games. The games are a fight to the death, only one kid survives and that person's district receives extra food and other perks for the next year.
Sounds horrible, and it is horrible. However dark the setting, it's a terrific story about a special girl named Katniss. You are pulled in by her from page one. You are introduced to the suffering she endures in her difficult world. You feel the bond she feels with her best friend and her younger sister Prim. Your heart drops with her heart as her younger sister, at 12, is picked for the hunger games.
It goes on from there. It's mad mad, Lord of the Flies told in a novel way with characters you'll fall in love with. It's aimed at the young adult market -- so it's an easy and quick read. Highly recommended. My wife hated the description of the book -- but after my daughter and I couldn't put the book down and read it over a weekend and then raved about it -- she's reading it too.
I'm already a third of the way through the sequel -- so don't buy just the one book, save the gas and buy them both at the same time
Lee