by Suzanne Collins
ages: 12+
First sentence: “When I woke up, the other side of the bed was cold.”

If you’ve been living in a cave (or at least not hanging out on the book blogs), then you haven’t heard the buzz about this one. The buzz that’s been growing — steadily — over the past six or so months. It started out as a trickle; one person here, another there… but by now it’s a flood. This is only a sampling of the reviews I’ve read of the book:

Cybils Science Fiction/Fantasy shortlist
Abby (the) Librarian
Fuse #8
The Reading Zone
Becky’s Book Reviews
Sarah Miller
Library Queue
My Thoughts Exactly
Shelf Elf
It’s All About Books
Squeetus

And it’s unanimous: this is an awesome book. (Of course I agree. I couldn’t put it down. In fact, I had to read it fast, because M was dying to snatch it away, especially after she learned that Collins wrote the Underland Chronicles, which is one of M’s favorites.) Click through if you want plot summaries or details.

Three things you need to know about this book.
1) You will not be able to put it down. If you do, in the event that you’re a nail-biting type of person, you will not be able to stop thinking about the main characters, or the events of the games, or whether or not they will make it out alive. And sooner rather than later, you will find yourself picking the book up again.

2) It’s graphic, but not gruesome. Collins is masterful at balancing brutality and humanity, and making us care for characters in the face of awful situations. It’s a dystopian novel after all, a cross between Scott Westerfield’s Uglies and Survivor gone horribly wrong.

3) You will finish it wanting more… and yet be completely satisfied with the current story. I was totally captivated with the plot, completely buying the ending, and then it ended. AH! Not since a Percy Jackson or Harry Potter book have I finished it and then immediately thought, “How long until I can read the next one?”

So go get it already and see for yourself what the fuss is about!