The Hunger Games

We meet 16 year old Katniss, her little sister Prim (and her cat Buttercup), their mother Mrs. Everdeen, Gale, Peeta, Haymitch, various other residents of Panem's District 12, and Effie Trinket who comes from the Capitol.

We get a small sense of their life and where they call home, and then we're whisked in with them all to the Reaping. This is the day when a boy and a girl, ages 12-18, from each of Panem's districts are chosen by lottery to take their place as tributes (representatives) in The Hunger Games. The Hunger games is an annual televised event (the worst kind of reality TV) forced on the citizens by the Capitol as a means to keep them in their place. Winning means fame and fortune, losing means you don't come out of the games alive. The lottery system is weighted to favor those families who are well off financially.

Once the tributes are selected, they are taken away by train to get ready for The Games. There they are introduced to their prep team, and get made over.

Once in the Capitol there are televised interviews of all of the tributes and they are trained for the competition. Finally, they are taken to the Arena.

Some kids work alone, and others form alliances, though they all know the rules. There can only be one winner of The Hunger Games. They do what they can to survive in the forest they've been plunked into, dealing with the elements (controlled by the Gamemakers), hunger, thirst, and each other. All of Panem watches. If they're lucky, they can get some help from sponsors in the form of food, weapons, or other necessities that get dropped in from above with little silver parachutes.

This is the part I really can't say too much about. I'll just add that whoever wins gets taken back to the Capitol, cleaned up, wounds healed, and they return to their District by train. They are given a nice house for their family in a special section of their district and never have to worry about money again.