In The Hunger
Games by Suzanne Collins, residents of Panem, a future country based in the
ruins of North America, struggle to survive while working to support the
glamour and riches of the capital. Each year, residents of the poverty-stricken
districts are forced to choose two children between the ages of 12 and 18, to
participate in the Hunger Games, a brutal contest where the participants fight
to the death until there is only one survivor.
There are more
than 30 million copies of The Hunger Games trilogy in print in
the United States alone. A film adaptation of The Hunger Games,
enjoyed enormous commercial success upon its release earlier this year and the
DVD is set to be released on August 18th.
The Hunger
Games was written for a
young adult audience but is widely read by people of all ages. While the story quickly
focuses on the Hunger Games, the beginning of the story focuses on the efforts
residents of District 12 go through just to gather enough food to survive.
The Hunger Games is a fantasy novel,
set in a dystopian society of the future, but hunger is real issue that people
in Western Massachusetts face today. According to the Food Bank of Western
Massachusetts, one in eight people—at least 110,000 region-wide—struggles to
put a meal on the table or has to choose between paying for utilities or buying
food.
The success of The
Hunger Games books and movie has created a community of readers who have
enjoyed reading and discussing the stories. A group of libraries in Western
Massachusetts has decided to invite that community to join in an effort to help
banish hunger in Western Massachusetts.
The following
libraries will be collecting donations of non-perishable food items to be
donated to local food pantries. The collections will begin August 1st and
continue through August 20th. Some of the libraries are planning incentives to
encourage patrons to donate generously. Patrons who donate non-perishable food
items at The Leverett Library will be entered into a drawing for a set of the
books or a copy of the Official Movie Companion. The M.N. Spear Memorial
Library will host a screening of the movie on Saturday, August 18th at 7pm and
the Tilton Library in Deerfield will host a screening of the movie on August 20th.
The Goodwin Memorial Library in Hadley will have a food-for-fines program.
A complete list
of participating libraries and contact information follows:
Mary Anne
Antonellis
M.N. Spear Memorial Library
M.N. Spear Memorial Library
Shutesbury
413-259-1213
Deb O'Brien
New Marlborough
Library
Mill River
413-229-6668
Janet Ryan
Jones Library
Amherst
413-259-3090
Jane Babcock
Goodwin Memorial
Library
Hadley
413-584-7451
Linda Wentworth
Leverett Library
413-584-9220
leverettlibrary.org
Diana Smith
New Salem Library
978-544-6334
newsalem-massachusetts.org/newsalempubliclibrary.html.
Jodi Levine
Pelham Library
413-253-0657
Sara Woodbury
Tilton Library
Deerfield
413-665-4638
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