In the fall of each year, the One Book of Rutherford County program challenges local residents to join together to read a chosen book. This year’s selection is The Hunger Games, an adventure novel by Suzanne Collins. One Book is a collaboration of Read To Succeed, Linebaugh Library, Barnes & Noble and Middle Tennessee State University to promote reading and literacy in Rutherford County. The point of One Book is to get people talking about reading, plain and simple. Read the book, tell your friends, and visit readtosucceed.org/onebook.htm to share your thoughts (good and bad) on this year’s choice.

Read To Succeed, the community literacy collaborative in Rutherford County, promotes reading, with an emphasis on family literacy. This non-profit initiative supports literacy programs and fosters awareness of the importance of reading.

by Laura Beth Jackson
Professor of English, MTSU

Choose a book, just one book, that is entertaining as well as thought-provoking, that can be read by adults as well as children, is in paperback, hardback, electronic and audio formats, is available at your local libraries, is under 400 pages and which speaks about current social and cultural issues.

Just one book.

This is not an easy task, even for a group of well-read representatives who served on this year’s Read To Succeed’s One Book committee, an initiative to promote the written word and shed light on current issues in the Rutherford County community. When Suzanne Collin’s The Hunger Games came up for discussion, we had come across no other work like it, and frankly none of us could put it down.

Sold as Young Adult (YA) literature, The Hunger Games is a gripping read for all ages as it examines humanity in crisis and the choices we must face in order to live with integrity as individuals, as families and as citizens.

The Hunger Games presents a portrait of North America, now called Panem, in what is perhaps the not-too distant future. Panem is in the aftermath of a civil war in which the states have been annihilated, and all that remains are 13 districts. The government controls each district through providing rationed food and resources.

We learn that part of Panem’s control is exercised through the annual “Hunger Games,” a barbaric reality show in which two young people, called tributes, are chosen from each district to compete in a gladiatorial fight to the death over several days in an arena. The games are filmed and shown to all Panem citizens. The lone survivor of the games is allowed to return home with wealth and glory.

The book’s main character is Katniss, a 16-year-old living in District 12. Her father died in a coal-mining accident and her mother is in a state of emotional shock, leaving Katniss to become the provider for her family—her mother, herself, and her younger sister, Prim. In the book, Prim is chosen for the games, and Katniss volunteers in her stead.

Katniss’s partner tribute, Peeta, is a boy from her school. Peeta has been in the background of Katniss’ life since she was young through his acts of kindness and service to her family. Now they are forced to fight one another and 22 other tributes to the death while they navigate feelings for one another and attempt to survive.

In The Hunger Games, the reader will find some disturbing concepts—the imposed poverty, the gross disparity between the ruling classes and the citizens, the inhumanity of a gladiatorial sport being portrayed as “entertainment,” and the wrenching decisions that must be made in the name of survival. However, in the end the book calls us to examine ourselves—what do we know of poverty in our community? What drives us? How do we exercise compassion and humanity when the odds are against us?

One of the best aspects of The Hunger Games is its readability for all ages. We encourage young and adult readers alike to share the work and engage in conversation about its meaning and the messages it offers us. A few of us on the One Book committee have had to fend off youngsters (as well as spouses!) from the book just so we could read it.

We invite you to join the One Book conversation today: read The Hunger Games, and see how much “one book” can say.

by Kory Wells
Poet (korywells.com)

I’ll start with a confession: I didn’t particularly want to read The Hunger Games. As a book lover who operates on the “so many books, so little time” philosophy, I found the novel’s description—dystopian society, gladiator-style televised games, fighting to the death—held little appeal for me. Never mind that some of my young adult friends couldn’t wait for the next book in the trilogy to come out. Never mind that some of my fellow writer friends buzzed about the book as much as the teenagers did.

Then I remembered Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, another novel I resisted. Several years ago, I was certain that I was not interested in reading about a terrorist invasion of a party of political and diplomatic figures in an unnamed South American country, but enough friends raved about this book that I gave it a try. I was soon caught in a foreign and uncomfortable world that, beyond all expectations, I didn’t want to leave. Bel Canto wove such a spell that I truly didn’t want the book to end, and I now consider it one of my all-time favorites.

With such possibilities in mind, I cracked the cover of The Hunger Games. After only one page, I was curious: How could a child be concerned about a stray kitten being “another mouth to feed?” After ten pages I was incredulous: How is it that two teenagers view their siblings as their responsibility? After twelve pages I was outraged: What kind of government ensnares its children into putting their lives at stake in exchange for meager sustenance? By the second chapter, I was totally hooked: In the inhumane world Suzanne Collins portrays, this is a story about humanity.

Which brings me back to Bel Canto, because it’s also about humanity (among other things), and because, like The Hunger Games, it diffuses a lot of drama and even violence with a sense of humor. I’m not suggesting that these books hold significant similarities in terms of writing style or character development or plot. Bel Canto is literary fiction unlikely to interest most teen readers. The Hunger Games fulfills a number of classifications: young adult fiction, contemporary fiction, science fiction and fantasy. Both books were New York Times bestsellers. Both authors lure the reader into a world so threatening that a positive outcome seems against all hope—and yet we must turn the page and find out what happens.

I’ll end with a confession: Although I enjoyed The Hunger Games very much, it won’t quite make my list of all-time favorites. Still, this year’s One Book selection is a quick read that’s an absolute page-turner and discussion-generator standout for its appeal to both genders and all ages (12 and up). Read it because your friends or your children or your grandchildren are reading it. Read it to see if it exceeds your expectations, as it did mine. Read it to engage in a community where literacy matters.