1. The Hunger Games By: Suzanne Collins Slide Show By: Becky Turner Becky Turner In Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, the Capitol forces each of Panem's 12 districts to choose two teenagers to participate in the Hunger Games, a gruesome, televised fight to the death. In the 12th district, Katniss Everdeen steps in for her little sister and enters the Games, where she is torn between her feelings for her hunting partner, Gale Hawthorne, and the district's other tribute, Peeta Mellark, even as she fights to stay alive. The Hunger Games will change Katniss' life forever, but her acts of humanity and defiance might just change the Games, too.

2. Main Characters  Katniss Everdeen  Peeta Mellark  Gale Hawthorne  Primrose Everdeen  Haymitch Abernathy  Effie Trinket  Cinna  Rue

3. Katniss Everdeen Katniss, the story's narrator and heroine, is 16 years old and has straight black hair, gray eyes, and olive skin. Her father died in a mine explosion when she is 11. Since then, to keep her family from starving in the Seam, she has had to provide for her mother and sister, using the hunting and gathering knowledge that her father taught her. Her best friend and hunting partner is, and, while they spend a great deal of time together, Katniss is sure that she doesn't see him in a romantic light, something that comes into deep question when she is District 12's Hunger Games tribute and must work hard to maintain a star-crossed- lovers façade with. Throughout the novel, she remains a hunter and a survivor, "the girl on fire," but she is also a girl who is very confused about her emotions concerning Peeta and Gale. Katniss must also remember to hide her true emotions about the Capitol: She loathes the Capitol and its tyrannical rule, but to rebel openly is to ask for punishment, oftentimes death. She is brave and daring and returns home from the Games a beloved star to her district but a menace, and perhaps a liability, to the Capitol dictators in charge of Panem. Katniss, the story's narrator and heroine, is 16 years old and has straight black hair, gray eyes, and olive skin. Her father died in a mine explosion when she is 11. Since then, to keep her family from starving in the Seam, she has had to provide for her mother and sister, using the hunting and gathering knowledge that her father taught her. Her best friend and hunting partner is Gale, and, while they spend a great deal of time together, Katniss is sure that she doesn't see him in a romantic light, something that comes into deep question when she is District 12's Hunger Games tribute and must work hard to maintain a star-crossed- lovers façade with Peeta Mellark. Throughout the novel, she remains a hunter and a survivor, "the girl on fire," but she is also a girl who is very confused about her emotions concerning Peeta and Gale. Katniss must also remember to hide her true emotions about the Capitol: She loathes the Capitol and its tyrannical rule, but to rebel openly is to ask for punishment, oftentimes death. She is brave and daring and returns home from the Games a beloved star to her district but a menace, and perhaps a liability, to the Capitol dictators in charge of Panem.

4. Peeta Mellark Peeta, the son of a baker, is the boy tribute from District 12 who claims to have been in love with Katniss since they were 5 years old. Even though they don't speak and Katniss doesn't consider Peeta a friend, he saves her life when they are 11 and she is starving behind the bakery. He gives her a loaf of bread, one that he burned on purpose, and ever since that moment Katniss has felt like she owes Peeta. During his interview before the start of the Games, Peeta professes his love for Katniss, which angers her since she believes that Peeta's comments make her look weak when, in fact, they make her even more desirable. While Peeta doesn't have much faith that he can win, he does tell Katniss that he wants to make sure that when he's in the arena, he remains true to himself, that he doesn't let the Games change him. Peeta causes Katniss to question her own identity and think about making a difference in the Games, wondering how she can be more than just a piece in the Capitol's Games. From the start, Peeta does everything he can to help Katniss survive. He joins the Careers in order to lead them away from her and even fights off Cato, who wounds him badly. To survive, Peeta uses his exceptional camouflaging skills to hide until Katniss finds him and nurses him back to health. While Katniss doubts Peeta's love for her, thinking that he is only keeping up the "lover boy" act, he seems genuine throughout the novel and feels betrayed in the end when he discovers that Katniss has not been as sincere as he has.

5. Gale Hawthorne Gale, Katniss' 18-year-old hunting partner, is well-liked by many girls in the District 12. When he first meets Katniss in the woods, he believes that her name is Catnip, and so this becomes his permanent nickname for her. Gale's father died in the same mine explosion as Katniss' father and, like Katniss, is very poor and struggles to survive in the Seam. He must take care of two little brothers, his little sister, and his mother, but has told Katniss that he wishes the two of them could run away together in the woods, that they'd have no problem surviving out there. When they hunt, Gale is very vocal about his hatred for the Capitol; only later, in the Games, do his words take true root in Katniss' mind. She thinks of Gale often during the Games, how she is completely at ease with him and tells him everything, and how she wishes he could be there to help her, though she falls short of admitting that she loves him.

6. Primrose Everdeen Prim is Katniss' 12-year-old sister. Prim takes after their mother, who has light hair and blue eyes. This reaping is her first, and Katniss has only allowed her to enter her name once into the drawing. Prim is the only person whom Katniss is certain she loves, and she does all she can to provide for and protect her sister, eventually sacrificing herself when, against all odds, Effie Trinket draws Prim's name at the reaping. When Katniss struggles to survive during the Games, she thinks about Prim and the promise she made to her that she would try her hardest to win. This promise gives her the strength she needs throughout the Games.

7. Haymitch Abernathy Of District 12's two Hunger Games victors in 72 years, Haymitch is the only one still living. He is a middle-aged man who is always very drunk, but, after seeing some spunk in Katniss and Peeta, he decides that he will sober up enough to mentor them and help them survive the Games. He calls Katniss "sweetheart" in a sometimes abrasive way that angers her. At first, Katniss believes that Haymitch hates her and even withholds gifts from her in the arena so that she'll die. Soon, though, she realizes that Haymitch is communicating with her through his gifts (or lack of them) and that she and Haymitch are more alike than she'd like to let on. He never married and doesn't have any children, and Katniss wonders how hard it must be for Haymitch to watch District 12's tributes die year after year. She grows fond of Haymitch throughout the novel, and he grows fond of her as well, doing his best to train her, coach her, and watch over her when she returns.

8. Effie Trinket Effie is the escort from the Capitol who has been assigned to District 12. Gale and Katniss make fun of her affected Capitol accent and how she is overly enthusiastic about the Hunger Games, a truly violent and grim event. They know that she looks down on District 12 and is just biding her time until she gets bumped to a district that has better representatives for the Hunger Games, a district that will put up a fight and have a chance of winning. She often comes across as dim-witted and misguided, but as the novel progresses, she shows that she does possess keen instincts about particular aspects of tribute preparation and seems to grow very fond of Katniss and Peeta.

9. Cinna Cinna, Katniss' stylist, is a young man, and this is his first Hunger Games. Katniss believes he was assigned to District 12 because of his lack of experience; Cinna, however, informs Katniss that he requested District 12. Unlike most of the other stylists, he dresses simply and chooses to highlight his looks with only a bit of makeup. He connects with Katniss almost immediately, understanding that the wasteful and luxurious ways in which the people of the Capitol live must sicken her. He has a sharp eye and knows how to style Katniss to help her win the crowd over. His first dress, the one that he sets afire with fake flames, earns Katniss her title of "girl on fire." In stressful times, Cinna maintains a calm and level head. Before Katniss's pre-Games interview, he tells her to pretend that she's talking directly to him, to a friend. He is also the one who returns Katniss' mockingjay pin to her before entering the Games. He is a true friend to Katniss and is highly skilled at presenting Katniss in just the right look, whether it's to win an audience over, or, later, to convince the Capitol that she is a naïve and innocent young girl who acted out of the blindness of love.

10. Rue Rue, the girl tribute from District 11, is small and reminds Katniss of Prim. Rue is able to hop from tree to tree like a squirrel, a skill that helps her outrun and evade her competition. She tips Katniss off to the tracker jacker nest that saves Katniss' life. She and Katniss ally and Katniss discovers that Rue has six younger siblings that she's had to care for. Rue knew that she could trust Katniss by the mockingjay pin that she wore, explaining that she loves mockingjays, particularly because of their music. In District 11, Rue worked in the orchards and would climb high in the trees and, when it was quitting time, she would sing a special song to let the others know that it was time to go home. The mockingjays would carry her song through the orchards. Rue is killed by the boy from District 1, and Katniss is there to sing Rue a final song and decorate her body with flowers. Rue, like Prim, makes Katniss promise that she will win, and there are moments when it is her promise to Rue, more so than her promise to Prim, that gives Katniss the strength she needs to fight on. She wants to make sure that Rue's death will not go unremembered. In many ways, Katniss' alliance with Rue is also an alliance with District 11. To thank her for her kindness to Rue, District 11 sends Katniss a loaf of bread, and Thresh, the boy tribute from District 11, lets Katniss go unharmed when he could have easily killed her. Rue, in life and in death, saves Katniss multiple times.