YA Authors You Need to Read: Suzanne Collins

This article is cross-posted at the Examiner. 

This is another article in a series profiling young adult authors you need to read now. When people think of YA literature many of them think of classic authors like Judy Blume, Norma Fox Mazer, and Chris Crutcher, but there are a whole slew of YA authors for today’s teens (and adult fans of YA lit) that should not be missed.

Suzanne Collins started out writing for children’s television shows. She’s worked on Clarissa Explains It All and other popular Nickelodeon shows. Collins is well know for “Gregor the Overlander,” the first in a 5 book series called “The Underland Chronicles,” as well as the “Hunger Games” trilogy.

When “The Hunger Games” begins it is easy to think that it takes place in a long ago primitive time when people had to live off the land and were brutal and cruel just to survive. Although Katniss is just a young teen she is the hunter of the family, bringing home rabbits and squirrels to feed her starving mother and younger sister. Food is scarce in her district and the hunting is illegal but mostly overlooked. As Katniss tells her story we learn that it does not take place long ago, but rather is in the future. War has obliterated the United States as we know it and has been replaced by 13 districts called Panem. Like the 13 colonies that created the United States, they rebelled against an oppressive government. Unlike those 13 colonies, they lost. In retaliation the government of Panem destroyed the 13^th district and rule the other isolated 12 districts with an iron fist. “The Hunger Games” brings together the horrific entertainment of our past—the Gladiator games—with the voyeuristic sadism of our present—reality shows—and gives us a future with human nature at its worst. The dystopian story continues in “Catching Fire” and concludes in the recent release “Mockingjay.” For a full review, click here.

Other Books

• “Gregor The Overlander”
• “Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane”
• “Gregor And The Curse Of The Warmbloods”
• “Gregor And The Marks Of Secret”
• “Gregor And The Code Of Claw”
• “The Hunger Games” (Goddess Librarian review)
• “Catching Fire” (Goddess Librarian review)
• “Mockingjay” (Goddess Librarian review)

You can find more information about Collins at her website.

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