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The Hunger Games
If You Like The Hunger Games…
Try These Authors/Titles
The Hunger Games is a novel by Suzanne Collins published in 2008. It was so popular that she wrote two more in the series, Catching Fire and Mockingjay, plus a prequel, A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
This trilogy takes place in a dystopian society. The United States has been divided up into 12 districts. There used to be 13, but when number 13 rebelled they were destroyed by the Capitol. Now, to show they’re in charge, every year the Capitol takes two children from each district — called “Tributes” — and makes them participate in The Hunger Games, a televised event in which they must fight for their lives. Katniss Everdeen and her family live in District 12, one of the more poorer districts. When her sister’s name is pulled to be a competitor Katniss volunteers to take her place. She’s taken away to be trained with her fellow district 12 tribute “Peeta” in how to fight and survive in the wild. Then all 24 tributes are taken away to an isolated location where they fight to the death.
There is a lot of violence in the book; however it was so well-written that it’s impossible to put down. Collins said that she was inspired to write this book when flipping channels between the Iraq war coverage and Survivor the competition “reality” series. There are so many elements in this book that tie to both of those topics, the most obvious being the game show aspect, the Survivor aspect in which you literally have to live in the wild, and the violence of war.
It also takes place in a dystopian era, which is becoming increasingly prominent in literature, probably in part due to the popularity of this book.
We’ve included a number of titles in this list which are not currently owned by the Lincoln City Libraries. All books owned by Lincoln City Libraries are hotlinked to their entries in our library catalog, so that you may check on their current availability. If you see a title on this list that is not hotlinked to our collection, please consider ordering it through our Interlibrary Loan department.
Here are some books that have similar themes to the Hunger Games series.
The Hunger Games — Guides to the Book
The Girl Who Was On Fire: Your Favorite Authors on Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games Trilogy
edited by Leah Wilson [YA PB Wilson]
The Hunger Games Companion: The Unauthorized Guide to the Series
edited by Lois H. Gresh [YA PB Gresh]
Killer Game Shows
24/7
or other titles by Jim Brown [Brown]12 contestants are stranded on a desert island for a reality show when they’re told they’ve been infected with a fatal virus. In order to survive they need to take the antidote daily. Each day one contestant does not receive the vaccine and it’s up to the public to decide who dies. The contestants are challenged to constantly win over the viewers so they can stay alive.
The Running Man
or other titles by Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman) [King]Unable to afford the proper medication for his sick daughter Ben Richards enters into a game show called “The Running Man” where he is hunted for thirty days. Every day he survives his family earns money, however no one has ever lasted more than eight days.
Contest
or other titles by Matthew Reilly [Reilly]Dr. Stephen Swain finds himself locked in the New York Public Library, representing planet Earth in an inter-galactic survival game show. 7 players enter but only one can leave alive.
The Scorpio Races
or other titles by Maggie Stiefvater [YA Stiefvater]Once a year men compete in a water horse race. It’s dangerous as the water horses want to either drown their riders or eat them. This year Puck becomes the first girl ever to enter the race to save her home. But what happens when the entire village is opposed to Puck competing and she falls in love with her main competition?
Battle Royale: The Novel
or other titles by Koushun Takami [Takami]Basically the Japanese version of The Hunger Games. Every year in Japan 42 high school students are taken to an evacuated island, given weapons and a time limit and forced to kill each other until only one is left standing.
Surviving Antarctica: Reality TV 2083
or other titles by Andrew White [j White]Recreating historical events with real people has become the newest teaching method, and has also become the most popular TV program. A group of misfits is forced to recreate Robert F. Scott’s fatal expedition to the South Pole. With cameras implanted in their eyes and no real training in those weather conditions, the group must work together in order to survive.
Dystopian Future
Enclave
or other titles by Ann Aguirre [YA Aguirre]In a world divided into Breeders, Builders and Hunters, 15-year-old Deuce has wanted to be a huntress her whole life. When given the opportunity she is paired with a mysterious partner named Fade, and they fight to bring back food to the enclave while avoiding the Freaks, deadly monsters who roam the tunnels.
Ship Breaker
or other titles by Paolo Bacigalupi [YA Bacigalupi]Nailer is part of a ship-breaking crew, scavenging for copper wiring on old tankers that have been taken out of commission. When a hurricane destroys their houses they’re forced to search the island for food and supplies. While foraging Nailer and his crewmate discover a fancy ship on its side. When they go onboard they discover treasures of all kinds, and a girl in desperate need of help. Do they save her or take her belongings and leave her to die?
Obernewtyn: The Obernewtyn Chronicles 1
or other titles by Isobelle Carmody [Carmody]When young Elspeth Gordie is labeled a misfit, she is shipped off to live in the isolated compound of Obernewtyn. Misfits are said to have special abilities and the Madam of Obernewtyn seems to be searching for something in particular. Could it be Elspeth’s mysterious power? [First in the Obernewtyn Chronicles series.]
Graceling
or other titles by Kristen Cashore [YA Cashore]Katsa, a warrior-girl in her late teens, is marked as a “Graceling” – someone with special talents. One of those talents is her ability to fight. She’s so good that she becomes the king’s henchman and is forced to do his bidding whilst secretly forming a council promoting justice over cruelty. [First in the Seven Kingdoms trilogy.]
Empty World
or other titles by John Christopher [j Christopher]Neil Miller is having a rough time in life. First his family dies in a car accident, then a plague overtakes the earth killing almost everyone but Neil, leaving him on a quest to find the rest of the survivors.
The Maze Runner
or other titles by James Dashner [YA PB Dashner]Thomas wakes up in an elevator and the only thing he remembers is his name. Getting off the elevator he arrives at “The Glade” an enclosed environment filled with boys who have learned to survive on what the glade has to offer, meanwhile trying to escape. Next to arrive is a comatose girl who holds a strange note and things begin to change in the glade. [First in the Maze Runner series.]
Little Brother
or other titles by Cory Doctorow [YA Doctorow]Marcus and his friends find themselves at the wrong place at the wrong time. After a major terrorist attack on San Francisco, he and his friends are captured by the Department of Homeland Security and interrogated for days. When they’re finally released they return to a life where everyone is treated like a terrorist and the only option of getting life back to how it used to be is to take down Homeland Security.
Incarceron
or other titles by Catherine Fisher [YA PB Fisher]Incarceron is a prison with cutting-edge technology. It was designed as an experiment to keep all the undesirables sealed up and give them their own utopia. But the experiment failed, the prison began to come alive, resources dwindled and the prisoners plotted. Still nobody got in or out, but Finn believes he belongs on the outside and finds a crystal key that opens any door and connects him with Claudia, a girl on the outside. [First in the Incarceron series.]
Gone
or other titles by Michael Grant [YA Grant]When all the adults in the world disappear, the world goes to hell. Hunger threatens, bullies take over, animals are mutating, and the teens start to develop special powers.
The Enemy
or other titles by Charles HigsonAfter a disease makes everyone sixteen and older crave human flesh, young adults barricade themselves in buildings and only emerge when they need food. When a mysterious traveler arrives claiming he can save them do they take the leap of faith? [First in the Enemy series.]
Legend
or other titles by Marie Lu [j Lu]The book shifts between the points of view of Day and June. Day murdered June’s brother and June is out for revenge. What happens when they meet by chance not knowing anything about each others’ past?
Divergent
or other titles by Veronica Roth [YA Roth]In sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior’s world, society is divided into five factions — Abnegation (the selfless), Candor (the honest), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent), with each faction working together they form a perfect society. At the age of sixteen teens must choose the faction they will devote the rest of their lives to. Does Beatrice choose the faction her family devotes themselves to or does she branch out on her own path altogether? [First in the Divergent series.]
Ashes, Ashes
or other titles by Jo TeggiariAfter a plague wipes out 99% of Earth’s population, those who survive band together into three groups. The Scavengers, who take what they can to survive; the S’ans, who somehow survived even though their bodies were ruined by the plague; and the Sweepers who patrol the streets abducting certain individuals for unknown reasons. 16-year-old Lucy makes it by herself for a year before she is targeted by the Sweepers and must join the Scavengers in order to survive.
The Bar Code Tattoo
or other titles by Suzanne Weyn [jPB Weyn]Getting a barcode tattoo on your 17th birthday is the latest fad. It contains all your personal information and you can even use it for shopping, but suddenly things start to go wrong. When the government makes the tattoo mandatory Kayla joins a0 teenage rebellion and goes on the run. [First in the Barcode series.]
Blood Red Road
or other titles by Moira Young [YA Young]After Saba’s brother is captured by cloaked horsemen she finds herself going on a quest with a group of misfits in order to save him. [First in the Dustlands series.]
Stranded on an Island and Must Learn to Survive on Own
Beauty Queens
or other titles by Libba Bray [YA Bray]“Lost” meets a very comedic “Miss America” when a planeload of teenage beauty queens crashes on a “deserted” island which isn’t deserted at all. They must learn how to survive so they can live long enough to be rescued.
Getting Back
or other titles by William Dietrich [Dietrich]Daniel Dyson gets bored with his job so they offer to send him on an Outback Adventure. After being dropped off in Australia he bands together with a group of misfits to get to their pick-up point, while avoiding the criminals and killers who have been abandoned on the island.
Lord of the Flies
or other titles by William Golding [Golding]After their plane crashes on a desert island, Ralph and his band of schoolmates must learn to survive in the wild. While he and his friend Piggy are focused on strict regimen, some of the other boys regress to a wild state and soon Ralph fears for his life.
The Penal Colony
or other titles by Richard Herley [Herley]The British government has started keeping the most dangerous prisoners on islands. After Anthony John Routledge is convicted for a murder he didn’t commit he is dropped onto one of the islands and must learn to survive amongst the worst offenders there, that are only watched by satellite, with no guards in sight.
Hatchet
or other titles by Gary Paulsen [j Paulsen]After a pilot has a heart attack and his plane crashes in the forest, 13-year-old Brian is left alone in the wilderness with only a hatchet. [First in the Brian Robeson series.]
Available through InterLibrary Loan
Deprivation House
or other titles by Franklin W. DixonIn a new reality show called “Deprivation House” a group of teens battle it out to see who can last the longest without modern luxuries. When they start receiving death threats the Hardy Boys take the case. [First in the Murder House trilogy of Hardy Boys novels.]
Honorable Mentions
The Compound by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen (YA Stuve-Bodeen)
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (Card)
Matched by Ally Condie (YA Condie)
The Pearl of Anton by Gene DelVecchio (j DelVecchio)
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank (Frank)
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George (j George)
River Rats, Inc. by Jean Craighead George (j George)
Afterlands by Steven Heighton
The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch (YA Hirsch) (recommended by Suzanne Collins)
Troubling a Star by Madeleine L’Engle (j L’Engle)
I Feel the Morning Star by Gregory Maguire (j Maguire)
Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden (j Marsden)
Canyon Winter by Walt Morey
Island of the Blue Dolphin by Scott O’Dell (j O’Dell)
Sarah Bishop by Scott O’Dell (j O’Dell)
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (Orwell)
Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen (j Paulsen)
Dark Inside by Jeyn Roberts (YA Roberts)
The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth Speare (j Speare)
The Cay by Theodore Taylor (j Taylor)
Plague by Jean Ure (j Ure)
Elske by Cynthia Voigt (j Voigt)
Empty by Suzanne Weyn (YA Weyn)
compiled and last updated March 2018 ck/sdc