The Hunger Games

A sister's name is drawn, and District 12 falls silent

In the dystopian nation of Panem, every district must sacrifice two children each year to the Hunger Games — a televised fight to the death.

A sister's name is drawn, and District 12 falls silent

In the dystopian nation of Panem, every district must sacrifice two children each year to the Hunger Games — a televised fight to the death. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen has spent five years keeping her family alive in impoverished District 12 since her father died in a mine explosion, hunting illegally in the woods with her friend Gale. On reaping day, the one name Katniss never expected to hear is called: her twelve-year-old sister Prim, entered only once. Katniss lunges through the crowd and volunteers in her place — an act so rare that the district responds not with applause but with silence, then a three-finger salute of respect. The district's only living victor, a drunk named Haymitch, staggers onstage. Then the male tribute is drawn: Peeta Mellark, the baker's son.

He risked a beating to throw bread to a starving Katniss

Katniss recognizes Peeta, though they've never spoken. Years ago, after her father's death, her mother collapsed into catatonic grief and the family nearly starved. Eleven-year-old Katniss found herself behind the bakery in freezing rain. Peeta's mother screamed at her to leave. But Peeta deliberately burned two loaves of bread, took a blow across the face for it, and tossed them to Katniss in the mud. That bread kept her family alive long enough for spring, when she spotted a dandelion and remembered her father's lessons about foraging. She taught herself to hunt, to trade, to survive. Now she and the boy who saved her must enter an arena where only one typically walks out. During their goodbyes, she promises her mother to stay strong and promises Prim she'll truly try to win.

Cinna's synthetic flames make District 12 unforgettable

Whisked to the glittering Capitol, Katniss and Peeta are stripped, polished, and remade by prep teams. But Katniss's stylist Cinna is different — quiet, unsettlingly normal, the first person from the Capitol who seems to see her as human. Rather than dreary coal-miner costumes, he dresses them in sleek black unitards with capes of synthetic flame. At the chariot parade, Cinna lights them on fire and tells them to hold hands. The effect is electric. Every camera, every eye in the Capitol locks onto the blazing pair from District 12. Flowers rain down. Strangers scream their names. For the first time, Katniss feels a flicker of hope — someone might actually sponsor her. Peeta squeezes her hand, and she notices he's already working the crowd.