“I also got an early look at a book I've been eagerly awaiting: Catching Fire, the sequel to Suzanne Collins' phenomenal The Hunger Games. It not only lived up to my high expectations, it surpassed them. It's just as exciting as The Hunger Games, but even more gut wrenching, because you already know these characters, you've already suffered with them. Suzanne takes the story places I wasn't expecting, and she's never afraid to take it to very hard places. Stunning. You won't sleep when you're reading this one. It hits shelves September 1st. I suggest beginning in the early morning and clearing your calendar for the day.”

“People have been talking about Suzanne Collins’s THE HUNGER GAMES, and with good reason. It’s classified as a YA novel, but there’s plenty here to keep adults interested, I can testify. In Collins’s world, a post-apocalyptic America, teen children are harvested from each of twelve districts every year to participate in the Hunger Games. Food is primary source of concern in Panem, scarce and doled out by the government. Whoever wins the Hunger Games gets food for himself/herself and the family for life. How do you win? By killing all the other contestants. It’s very like “Survivor,” but for real. A different venue with a different landscape is picked each year, and the government throws in different twists to affect the outcome: torrential rain, the drying up of water sources, planted explosives, etc. Katniss and Peeta, the teens who are chosen from the coal-producing region, are at a great disadvantage, but due to Katniss’s cleverness they contrive to have an edge. This is a great book, and very thought-provoking. Read this along with your teen and discuss it.”