The Hunger Games Summary (Chapter 1-9 ) #MIDTERM PROJECT

Part 1: The Tributes

In the first third of the book, we are introduced to our protagonist, Katniss Everdeen. Though she's only a teenager, she's a tough hunter who puts food on her family's table. Her father is dead and she lives with her mother and sister Prim in District 12 in the country of Panem. She hunts with a guy named Gale who is cute and might even have a thing for her, but who knows? Katniss is not very in touch with her mushy side.

Every year the Capitol of Panem hosts an event called the Hunger Games where two "tributes" – a boy and a girl – are drafted from each of the twelve districts to be brought to an arena and fight to the death. (BTW, back in the day the word "tribute" referred to a payment to a ruler.) Only one person can win. This is to remind the country not to rebel – and for entertainment, of course. This year, unfortunately, Katniss's little sister is selected for the Hunger Games, so Katniss volunteers to take her place. Also selected is Peeta Mellark, the baker's son, who maybe has a teensy tiny crush on Katniss. Maybe.

After the reaping (that's the tribute selection process), Katniss and Peeta are whisked away to the Capitol to prepare for the Games (and primped for live TV). We meet their support team, which is primarily comprised of Haymitch (a former Hunger Games winner and also a drunk), Effie (their wrangler), and Cinna and Portia (their stylists).

During the opening ceremonies, Cinna and Portia dress Katniss and Peeta in flames and they draw much attention to themselves. During training, Katniss reveals her archery skills to the Gamemakers and scores an amazing 11 out of 12. Peeta gets a lower score and asks to be coached separately. Peeta also announces in an interview that he has a mega crush on Katniss. Is this all just a strategy to gain audience support and sponsors? Katniss thinks so, but it works well for her too, so she plays along.

Part 2: The Games

At last: Let the Games begin!

All 24 of the tributes are transported to the arena to fight it out. Katniss is on her own at first, but then she discovers that Peeta has teamed up with the Career Tributes – the strong kids from the rich districts in Panem who actually want to go to the Hunger Games. They eventually corner her in a tree, but she drops a tracker jacker nest on them (that's like a genetically mutated killer wasp) and scores a bow and arrow in the process.

After this, Katniss teams up with Rue, a tiny girl from District 11 who reminds her of her sister Prim. The two are able to take out the Career Tributes' food supply, which totally infuriates their leader, Cato. Also, Peeta doesn't appear to be teamed up with them anymore. Where is he? Wounded? Unfortunately, Rue is killed around this time by one of the Career Tributes. Katniss honors her body by covering it in flowers.

After Rue's death, the announcer, wanting to bring back the romance story between Peeta and Katniss, changes the rules of the game: two people from a single district can now win. Before she can stop herself, Katniss calls out Peeta's name.

Part 3: The Victor

Katniss goes hunting for Peeta and eventually finds him. He is wounded and camouflaged in the muddy bank of a stream. She nurses him back to health and realizes that by playing up the romance angle, they can get gifts from sponsors.

Eventually, Katniss and Peeta must face off with Cato, the only other surviving tribute, but before that they are all pursued by wild dogs which are actually genetically mutated killing machines. Finally, Katniss shoots Cato and he falls into the pack. They've won, right? Wrong. An announcer comes back on and says the rules have changed back: only one winner allowed.

Katniss and Peeta can't kill each other, so they make a show of taking poisonous berries in an act of double suicide. Fortunately, the announcer comes back on before they can kill themselves, and says that they win. Woo-hoo! They defeated the Hunger Games! Or wait…did they?

Katniss and Peeta keep up the star-crossed lovers routine for the post-games reunion and interview, knowing that this is the only way to keep from being punished by the Capitol for the rebellious trick with the poisonous berries. Eventually Katniss figures out that Peeta really is in love with her – he wasn't acting at all – and he figures out that she wasn't ever in love with him. Oops. As the train pulls into District 12, they put on a happy face for the camera, take each other's hands and step onto the platform.

Chapter 1

• The narrator wakes up in a cold bed, and we learn that today is the day of the reaping. What is the reaping, you ask? In a daring act of suspense-building, the narrator decides not to tell us.
• In the meantime we're introduced to the other people asleep in the bedroom. There's Primrose (or Prim for short), the narrator's sister; the narrator's mother, who was once very beautiful; and Buttercup, a mouser of a cat who the narrator originally tried to drown. (Not an animal lover, this one.)
• Awake, the narrator dresses herself in hunting gear, grabs a goat cheese, and heads to the woods.
• We learn that the narrator lives in a place called District 12, nicknamed the Seam, that is home primarily to poor coal miners. The narrator's father was a coalminer, but he died in an explosion five years ago, when the narrator was only eleven.
• District 12 is enclosed by a sometimes electrified fence that's supposed to keep out the predators from the woods. Trespassing in the woods is illegal, but that doesn't stop our narrator. The narrator hunts there for food with her bow, a weapon with which she's nearly an expert.
• District 12 is located in the country of Panem and ruled by people in the far away Capitol.
• In the woods, the narrator meets with Gale, her hunting partner. The narrator reveals that her name is Katniss, though Gale sometimes calls her Catnip.
• Gale surprises Katniss with a fresh loaf of bread. Katniss pulls out the goat cheese made by Prim. The two begin to gather blackberries for their feast and begin cracking jokes about the Hunger Games. (What are the Hunger Games? We're still not sure.)
• Katniss offers more information about her family: her mother came from a family of merchants that ran an apothecary shop. She fell in love with Katniss' father, though, and left her comfortable life to live in the Seam.
• Katniss' mother was depressed after the death of her husband. Katniss blames her for being "blank and unreachable" (1.21).
• Over their meal Gale suggests running away together and living in the woods. Katniss finds the idea ridiculous. They have to provide for their families. She mentions that she never wants to have children of her own.
• The conversation ends awkwardly, and Katniss is confused. She and Gale (who we find out is pretty hunky) aren't romantically involved, but they are friends and hunting partners.
• Gale and Katniss move to the lake to fish. By the end of the day, they have a huge haul of food: fish, greens, and strawberries.
• The two go to the Hob, the black market, to sell or trade some of their goods. Half the strawberries are taken to the mayor's house to sell.
• There they meet Madge, the mayor's daughter, done up in a pretty dress for the reaping. Gale compliments her, and she responds by saying that, if she gets sent to the Capitol, she wants to look nice. Gale coolly dismisses this idea, considering she only has "five entries" (1.44).
• What does it all mean, you ask? Katniss explains that, once citizens reach the age of twelve, their name is put in the pool for the reaping. At age thirteen, the name is entered twice. An additional entry is given to each person until they reach the age of eighteen – at which point they are no longer eligible for the reaping.
• Sounds fair, right? Not quite. The poor get the worst of it because if you happen to be starving or living in poverty, you can get a year's supply of grain and oil (what is called a "tessera") by adding your name into the pool another time.
• This means that once Katniss reached the age of twelve, she had her name entered once because of her age, but then three more times so that she, Prim, and her mother would have grain and oil for the year.
• Richer families do not have to play the game this way, obviously – which explains why Gale was so miffed by Madge even suggesting that she would be the one selected to go to the Capitol. Her chances are miniscule compared to Katniss and Gale.
• Gale has been known to rage about this kind of thing, especially about the unfairness of the system and the way it keeps the classes divided against each other.
• Back at home, Prim is dressed in a reaping outfit formerly belonging to Katniss. Katniss washes and puts on a blue dress formerly belonging to her mother.
• This is Prim's first reaping and Katniss, who normally protects her younger sister, feels powerless to do anything for her.
• The family eats dinner (fish and greens) and then heads for the reaping in the square. There are bright banners and cameras everywhere (the proceedings are televised by the state), but still there is "an air of grimness" (1.68).
• People in the crowd are taking bets on whose names will be picked.
• Katniss stares at the stage where there are two glass balls with slips of paper in them. Katniss has her name in the lottery twenty times.
• On the stage are Mayor Undersee (Madge's father), and Effie Trinket – the district's pink-haired escort from the Capitol.
• As the clock strikes two, the proceedings begin: the mayor tells the history of Panem, a country that emerged from the ashes of a place once known as North America.
• The country of Panem used to have thirteen districts, but the Dark Days came and the districts rose up against the Capitol. Twelve of the districts were defeated, but the thirteenth was destroyed.
• The Treaty of Treason was established to bring peace after the uprising. As a reminder of the Dark Days, the Hunger Games were instituted.
• What are the Hunger Games, you ask again for the umpteenth time? We finally find out: as a punishment for the uprising of the districts, a lottery is held each year in which a boy and girl from each district is chosen to be a "tribute" (1.75).
• Each tribute is taken to the Capitol, where they are imprisoned in a gigantic arena and must, over a long period of time, FIGHT TO THE DEATH. Sound intense? Yeah, we thought so. "The last tribute standing wins" (1.75).
• The winning tribute wins food for their district. It's supposed to a festivity, but really, it all sounds pretty terrible.
• Back to the reaping at hand: the mayor reads a list of past victors. There have been few from District 12 and only one is still alive. His name is Haymitch Abernathy, a middle-aged drunk. He stumbles on stage, which the cameras, of course, are sure to get on film.
• The bubbly Effie Trinket is on hand to pull the names out of the hat. First up? The ladies. The name she reads out? GASP. It's little Primrose Everdeen, Katniss's younger sister – who only had her name in the hat ONCE.

Chapter 2

• Katniss is stunned. Likewise, the crowd is displeased to have a twelve-year-old girl chosen as the tribute.
• Prim approaches the stage, but as she does, Katniss darts in front of her and volunteers to take her sister's place. Volunteers are allowed, but they don't usually come forward – seeing as how most District 12 tributes bite the dust in the Games.
• Prim freaks out. Gale grabs her, allowing Katniss to take the stage.
• The people of District 12 do not clap; instead, they are silent. They then give Katniss the three fingered salute of the district, a gesture rarely used, meaning thanks, admiration, and good-bye to a loved one.
• Haymitch stumbles drunkenly onto the stage, yelling about the scene, and then falls off. The whole thing is caught on camera, of course.
• Next up is the selection of the boy tribute, which turns out to be Peeta Mellark.
• Katniss is shocked, though doesn't exactly explain why. Though he has two older brothers, no one volunteers for Peeta.
• Flashback: Katniss then relates the story of her only encounter with Peeta. It was after her father died, when her mother was suffering from depression. Katniss was – as she is now – the sole bread winner, but was not old enough yet for the tesserae.
• The family was starving – a not uncommon fate in District 12.
• One evening Katniss is in the Hob to trade some baby clothes for food. Unsuccessful, she is wandering behind the shops when she smells the bread of the bakers'. Delicious.
• Katniss lifts the trash can lid to scavenge, when the baker's wife appears out of nowhere to scream at her and shoo her away. She sees a little blond boy peering at her from behind his mother.
• Hiding behind the pig pen, Katniss, sick and weak, slumps down defeated. Soon, though, the blond boy appears with two loaves of burned bread. Katniss notices a red welt on his face, probably from his mother. He throws a loaf of bread in her direction and returns inside.
• Katniss runs home with the bread and eats the loaf with her family.
• The next morning she realizes that the boy probably burned the loaves on purposes – so he could give them to her.
• That day at school the boy does not acknowledge Katniss. She does, though, see in the schoolyard a dandelion and remembers her time in the woods with her father – and that there she can find food for her family.
• End of flashback. Katniss tells us that Peeta has always reminded her of hope, and that she is thankful for what he did – but how can she thank him now that he is her enemy?

Chapter 3

• Katniss and the other candidates are taken into custody. They are divided and taken into fancy rooms with plush carpets and velvet chairs where each are allowed to say their farewells.
• Prim and Mother visit Katniss. She gives them instructions for her absence. They are not to accept tesserae for Prim, but instead get by selling goat milk and Mother's apothecary business. Gale is to supply the herbs.
• Katniss warns her mother that she can't become depressed again and "clock out," leaving Prim on her own (3.8).
• Prim makes Katniss promise to try to win; despite Katniss's doubts about her ability in the competition, she agrees.
• The next visitor is, to Katniss's surprise, Peeta Mellark's father, the baker. Without his witchy wife around, he's much nicer. He offers Katniss a white paper package of cookies and promises to keep an eye of Prim.
• After the baker leaves, Madge, the mayor's daughter enters the room. She offers Katniss a circular gold pin to wear as a token of District 12. On the pin is a small bird. Katniss agrees.
• The last visitor is Gale, who hugs Katniss in his arms. He advises Katniss to get her hands most immediately on a bow during the Games – even if she has to make one. It's her best shot.
• Katniss wonders if there will even be wood. She and Gale recall previous Hunger Games: in one, the tributes froze to death at night because of lack of wood. It was boring, so there probably will be wood this time.
• The peacekeepers arrive and force Gale to leave, but before he does, he says "Katniss, remember I –," but isn't allowed to finish that thought. Suspense!
• At the train station, cameras are everywhere and Katniss is grateful that she knows how to mask her emotions. Peeta, on the other hand, has clearly been crying. Katniss wonders if this is a strategy.
• The train whisks the tributes away and Katniss tells us more about her country: the Capitol was constructed in a place once known as the Rockies. District 12 was a region formerly called Appalachia, a coal-mining region.
• Katniss showers in her own private car and dresses in a dark green shirt for dinner. She puts on Madge's gold pin with the mockingjay.
• Katniss tells us that mockingjays are hybrid animals, a cross between a jabberjay and a mockingbird.
• The jabberjays were genetically mutated animals engineered by the Capitol during the rebellion. The birds could spy on people and memorize whole conversations. People eventually realized what was going on and fed lies to the birds, so in the end, the whole plan backfired.
• The mockingjay species were created when the abandoned species started mating with female mockingbirds. Now they repeat not words, but human melodies and can recreate songs.
• Katniss's father, a great singer, would always sing to the birds. She finds the pin of the bird comforting, like having a piece of her father with her.
• At dinner, Katniss and Peeta eat course after course of rich food. Effie Trinket comments on their polite manners, different from past Seam tributes, which only infuriates Katniss. She then eats the rest of the meal with her fingers.
• The party watches on television the rest of the reapings in the rest of the districts. A few tributes stand out: a "monstrous boy" from District 2, a "fox-faced girl" form District 5, a crippled boy from District 10, and a small girl with "dark brown skin and eyes" from District 11 (3.67). She reminds Katniss of Prim.
• They also watch the recap of the reaping in District 12. They broadcast the silent salute. Effie is agitated by the spectacle of Haymitch falling drunk off the stage.
• Peeta and Katniss make a few jokes at Haymitch's expense when he staggers through the door. And vomits!

Chapter 4

• A very drunk Haymitch, the former champion who is supposed to be mentoring Katniss and Peeta, slips around in his own vomit.
• Peeta offers to clean Haymitch up, which Katniss wonders about until she realizes that Peeta is being kind. Kind?! This could be bad for the Games since kind people have a way of "working their way inside" Katniss and "rooting there" (4.10).
• Alarmed at her tender feelings, Katniss throws Peeta's father's cookies out of the train window, but wouldn't you know it, they bust open right beside of a patch of dandelions. Which of course just remind her again of Peeta's kindness back in the schoolyard. Sigh.
• Flashback alert: Katniss tells us what happened those many years ago after Peeta gave her the bread and she saw the dandelion.
• She and Prim go to the Meadow where they gather enough dandelion greens for a huge salad. Katniss realizes she could scavenge for even more food with her mother's book from the apothecary.
• Katniss also begins going under the fence surrounding District 12 and out into the woods to hunt. She uses the small bow and arrow that her father had made for her and hidden in a hollow tree. Katniss kills a rabbit on her first day and the family has meat for the first time in months.
• Over the course of time, Katniss is able to use the woods as the family's main food source: eggs, fish, rabbits, squirrels, and plants.
• Eventually Katniss is old enough to sign up for tesserae. She doesn't stop hunting though, but begins to trade the bounty from her hunting and gathering at the Hob (the city's black market).
• Later that summer, she finds potato-like bluish tubers growing around a pond. She remembers that they're called "Katniss." And that her father had said: "As long you can find yourself, you'll never starve" (4.22). (Double meaning alert! Remember this for later!)
• With the food and the hope, Katniss's mother begins to come out of her depression. Katniss, though, can't ever completely trust her.
• Flashback over. Now we're on the train with Katniss who is staring out of the window thinking of her home and family. All of that seems so long ago. She decides to sleep and even though she decides to allow herself to cry: she can't.
• Katniss wakes and dresses (green outfit, gold mockingjay pin). Breakfast is huge: "eggs, ham, piles of fried potatoes" and delicious hot chocolate (4.34).
• Also at breakfast? Haymitch, the drunkard. Katniss realizes that she kind of hates Haymitch because he's apparently not very good at supporting his tributes – or getting them sponsors (the people who give aid and supplies to the tributes during the game).
• Katniss asks Haymitch for advice, and he says "stay alive" (4.40) and then laughs. Ha?
• Peeta is ticked off by this and knocks Haymitch's glass out of his hand. Haymitch punches Peeta. Katniss stabs a knife into the table.
• A little surprised, Haymitch wonders aloud if he has fighters on his hands this year. Katniss throws a knife into the wall to prove that he does.
• A deal is made: If no one interferes with Haymitch's drinking, he'll stay sober enough to help. But! Peeta and Katniss must do exactly as he says. All are agreed.
• The train pulls into the Capitol and people are on hand to gawk. Katniss backs away from the window, but Peeta smiles and waves. "Who knows?" he says. "One of them may be rich" (4.61).
• Katniss realizes that maybe she has underestimated Peeta. Maybe he does have a plan – and that plan probably involves killing her.

Chapter 5

• Katniss is in the Remake Center getting her legs waxed (yowch!) by Venia, "a woman with aqua hair and gold tattoos about her eyebrows" (5.1). She's also been scrubbed clean and had her nails done. The only thing they've left the same is the braid her mother had arranged.
• The last remaining hairs are plucked clean by her prep team (Octavia, Flavius, and the aforementioned Venia – all decked out with crazy hair and dyed skin), and they call in her head stylist, Cinna.
• Cinna arrives and Katniss is impressed with how normal and attractive he looks. His voice lacks the affected accent most people have in the Capitol.
• Cinna compliments Katniss's braid, and she realizes that Cinna is a new stylist for the Hunger Games. He reveals that he asked specifically for District 12.
• Cinna and Katniss have lunch, an exorbitant spread that would never be seen back in District 12. Katniss wonders what it would be like to live in such a place.
• Cinna reads Katniss's thoughts and comments that they must all seem despicable to her.
• The two discuss Katniss's outfit for the opening ceremony. Usually the get-up has to do with the industry of the district. This means coal-mining. Katniss expects a coal miner outfit, but Cinna says no, this year, they're focusing instead on coal.
• He asks Katniss if she is afraid of fire.
• We jump forward a few hours and Katniss is dressed in a black unitard and a streaming orange, yellow, and red cape – that Cinna plans to set ON FIRE during her chariot ride to the stadium.
• Peeta shows up, and he is dressed identically. The two soon find themselves in the chariot, making jokes about extinguishing one another. Then the opening music begins.
• The chariot from each district starts moving along in the parade until it's time for District 12 – that's when Cinna lights both Katniss and Peeta on fire. Fortunately, the plan works and no one burns to death.
• Before they pull out, Cinna motions that Peeta and Katniss hold hands. The chariot then enters the city.
• The crowd loves the outfits – and they cheer accordingly. Katniss starts to feel a little hope. Someone throws her a rose, and she catches it. She blows kisses.
• The chariots arrive at President Snow's mansion for his speech. Katniss can see on the jumbo-tron that she and Peeta are getting lots of screen time.
• The national anthem plays, the chariots make a final circle around parade route, and then back to the Training Center.
• Katniss and Peeta are still gripping hands, and they joke about it. He tells her that she should wear flames more often (flirty flirty!) and he smiles.
• Warning bells go off in Katniss's head: do not flirt with this boy because you might start to like him and then HE IS GOING TO KILL YOU.
• Then, she realizes that two can play this game. She reaches on tiptoe and kisses his cheek.

Chapter 6

• Katniss and company ride an amazing crystal elevator to the twelfth floor of the Training Center where the District 12 team will be staying.
• Effie Trinket, the pink-haired escort, is on hand and is impressed with how well Peeta and Katniss did in the ceremonies. She's never had a team do well, apparently. She tells them she's been talking them up as best she can, but she's not the one responsible for getting sponsors. That's Haymitch.
• Though lacking in other areas, Katniss admires Effie's determination.
• Katniss's quarters are plush with an elaborate shower that instantly untangles your hair, a programmable closet, and a giant menu with food that appears on command.
• After showering and dressing, Katniss is called to dinner where the whole team (Effie, Haymitch, Cinna, the stylists, and the candidates) assembles. Servers in white tunics bring them roast beef and noodles in green sauce.
• Katniss drinks wine and her head is a bit groggy. A cake is brought in and set ablaze when Katniss recognizes the serving girl who is setting it on fire.
• She exclaims "I know you!" but as soon as she does, feels anxiety and guilt. The girl looks terrified. Effie tells Katniss there is no way she could know the girl, who is an Avox.
• What's an Avox? Someone who has committed a crime, like treason, and has had their TONGUE cut out. Wowzers.
• Effie informs Katniss that Avoxes are not to be spoken to unless it's an order that they're being given.
• Peeta swoops in to save the day, claiming that the reason Katniss must have recognized the girl is because she looks a lot like someone back from the Seam – Delly Cartwright.
• Katniss knows this is not true (the girls look nothing alike) but she plays along anyhow.
• The team watches the replay of the opening ceremonies and Haymitch comments that the hand holding was just the "perfect touch of rebellion" (6.35).
• With dinner over, Peeta and Katniss walk to their rooms, but instead decide to head to the roof. Why? Because Peeta wants to know why he was covering for Katniss. Who is the Avox girl and why did Katniss recognize her?
• On the roof Katniss wonders if anyone has ever tried to escape by jumping off. Peeta says that the whole place is electrified so that it's not possible.
• The two retire to the roof garden, with its twinkling wind chimes, to speak in whispers.
• Katniss then relates the story of the Avox girl. Ready? Here we go:
• Gale and Katniss were hunting one day in the forest around District 12 when they saw a girl and a boy with tattered clothes running like crazy. The two were from the Capitol, Katniss could tell.
• Katniss also knew they were in trouble, but did not help. She could only watch from her hiding place.
• A hovercraft appeared and hauled the boy up by shooting a spear through him. More than likely, he died. The girl was caught in a net and hauled up. She called for help, but Katniss didn't give it to her.
• Peeta asks if they saw Katniss and she says she doesn't know, but really she does know. She and the girl locked eyes.
• Peeta wonders where they were going, then says aloud that he'd leave the Capitol too. He would go home, if they let him.
• As they go in, Peeta plumbs for information about Gale. Are he and Katniss related? Did Gale come to see her on the last day in District 12?
• Changing the subject, Katniss mentions that his father had brought her cookies on that day. Peeta seems surprised, but is he just acting? Katniss can't tell.
• Peeta tells Katniss that his father knew her mother when they were children. Interesting.
• The two part ways for the night. Inside Katniss' room, the redheaded Avox girl is collecting the outfit from the opening ceremony.
• Katniss wants to apologize for everything, but she doesn't. Instead she gets under the covers and pulls the covers over her head.
• She wonders if the Avox girl will enjoy watching her die.

Chapter 7

• Katniss wakes the next morning from terrible nightmares. She hops into the shower she hasn't figured out yet how to use and then heads to breakfast. She's the first one up, but the Avox servant allows her to serve herself from the generous buffet.
• Haymitch and Peeta arrive, and Peeta is yet again wearing an outfit identical to hers. Katniss is annoyed.
• Training is set to start today, so Haymitch talks strategy. After Peeta and Katniss decide to be coached together, Haymitch asks them what their strengths are. Peeta? Baking bread. Katniss? Hunting with a bow and arrow.
• When Katniss underrates herself at hunting, Peeta is sure to chime in and say how great she is. He has been eating the squirrels she sold to his father, after all. Katniss is surprised that he's even noticed something like that.
• Katniss feels irritated, so she's sure to tell Haymitch how strong Peeta is – and how he can lift big bags of flour and wrestle people, like he does at high school.
• Peeta snaps back that his mother thinks Katniss is going to win. She even said that Katniss was a survivor.
• Katniss comments that she only survived because someone (Peeta) helped her so long ago. Peeta then makes some exasperated remarks about how the sponsors will all want to help her. And then things boil over as Peeta rolls his eyes and makes a comment about how Katniss doesn't know the effect she has on people. (Like Peeta, maybe?)
• Haymitch advises Katniss to keep her bow skills a secret during the general training sessions and only to reveal them during her private session with the Gamemakers. He tells them to pick up useful skills during group training – not show off.
• The other piece of advice? They have to stay by each other's side.
• Totally peeved, Katniss stalks back to her room and contemplates the breakfast convo. She's angry that she and Peeta have to pretend to be friends. And what did Peeta mean when he said she had an effect on people?
• Time for training: all the tributes gather together, but Katniss and Peeta are the only two dressed alike. Katniss notices that most of the tributes are bigger than her, but many are less well fed. That gives her an edge. The rich kid tributes, of course, are fed and trained and ready to go.
• Practice time starts. They can either go to combat stations or learn some survival skills. Sticking together, Peeta and Katniss decide (since this is a group session) to learn some skills. First up? Knot tying. Then camouflage. (Peeta likes this skill since it's like decorating a cake. This in turn annoys Katniss further.)
• Training lasts over three days and it's more of the same: Katniss and Peeta learn more survival skills – like how to start a fire and make a shelter. They steer clear of weightlifting and archery so as not to give away their skill sets.
• Peeta and Katniss eat together during meals, as do the Career Tributes (the rich kids). The rest sit alone.
• Katniss and Peeta attempt to make conversation (like Peeta's remarks about all the different kinds of bread in the basket) to keep up their image of a friendship.
• During the second day of training, Peeta and Katniss notice that they have a shadow: Rue, the little dark-skinned girl from District 11, who is tiny and reminds Katniss of Prim. Katniss watches her and realizes that she's good with plants, climbs fast, and can aim with a slingshot.
• On the evening of the second night, Peeta and Katniss start joking around. Katniss laughs, but then is confused. Are they friends or not? She tells Peeta that they shouldn't pretend to be friends when not around the others.
• The third day of training is the private session with the Gamemakers. Katniss goes into hers and sees what she's been waiting for: a bow and arrow.
• She's clumsy with the weapon at first, but after getting familiar with it, she skewers the practice dummy through the heart and hits multiple targets around the gymnasium.
• Not many of the Gamemakers notice. Most are too concerned with the free buffet in the gym – especially the huge roast pig that's been brought in for them.
• Infuriated, Katniss shoots an arrow straight into the apple in the pig's mouth. She thanks them for their consideration – and then storms out of the gym. Drama!

Chapter 8

• Katniss rushes back to her room and starts sobbing. She's really done it now. Will the Gamemakers punish her? Her family? She keeps beating herself up.
• Katniss decides the Gamemakers will probably give her a low score so that she'll get no sponsors.
• Defeated, she goes down to dinner. Everyone is there. Eventually Haymitch asks Katniss and Peeta just how bad they were today. Peeta says he got ignored. Katniss tells the company she shot an arrow at the Gamemakers. D'oh!
• Katniss wants to know what will happen to her. Haymitch says that it wouldn't make sense to arrest her or punish her family. They'll probably just make her life hell in the arena. This cheers Katniss up a bit, and they all laugh and joke a bit at Katniss's description of the shocked Gamemakers.
• Time to watch the announcement of the scores: the Career Tributes are in the eight-to-ten range, little Rue pulls a seven (whoa!), and Peeta gets an eight. Not bad!
• And Katniss? Well. Katniss gets an ELEVEN. That's right. She's through the roof. Everyone is super-excited and kind of shocked. They must have liked her temper, Haymitch says.
• The next day Katniss wakes with Gale on her mind. She relates the story of their first meeting in the woods. (That's right, everyone. It's flashback time again!)
• Katniss was collecting tubers in the forest when she saw rabbits strung up in two snares: traps to catch more animals. Never having been able to make snares work herself, she moved closer to examine them.
• That's when a boy appeared: he was fourteen years old and over six feet tall. He warned her that touching his snares would be dangerous, and that stealing is punishable by law.
• The two bantered a bit and then Katniss showed him her bow. They talked hunting. Eventually they started swapping knowledge and, over time, they became hunting partners – and friends. And even something more than that.
• Back in the present, Katniss feels pangs of longing and compares what she had with Gale to the fake friendship she now has with Peeta.
• Breaking her reverie, Effie calls her down to breakfast.
• Katniss enters the dining room and heaps her plate with delicious lamb and asks when they'll start prepping for the interviews. That's when Haymitch drops a bombshell: Peeta has asked to be coached separately.

Chapter 9

• Katniss feels betrayed by Peeta's decision, but she guesses that the sooner they acknowledge that they're enemies, the better.
• On to the interview preparation: Katniss has a four-hour-long session with Effie where Effie puts her in a gown and heels, and teaches her how to walk in them. Effie teaches her about eye contact, gesture, smiling, and so forth.
• Katniss has a hard time with all of this, and Effie has to emphasize that Katniss needs the audience to like her – which is hard if Katniss is scowling the whole time. She must pretend.
• In the session with Haymitch, Katniss is coached on her interview skills with little to no luck. Katniss is hostile, angry, and has trouble talking about herself or her family. Haymitch says she has about as much charm "as a dead slug" (9.27).
• Haymitch coaches her to act humble. That doesn't work. She tries to play it cocky. No dice. Witty, funny, sexy, and mysterious are also failures.
• Katniss eats dinner alone in her room that night and smashes around some of the dishes in anger. When the redheaded Avox girl comes to clear them away, Katniss yells at her to leave them.
• The girl, though, doesn't leave. She gets a damp cloth and washes off Katniss's face and bloody hand.
• Katniss apologizes for the incident in the forest so long ago. She tells her she should have tried to save her. The girl taps her lips, as if to say "No, they would have cut your tongue out too." The two clean the room together. Then the girl turns down the bed and tucks Katniss in. She sleeps.
• The next day, Katniss is set to spend some time with Cinna, the stylist, before her big interview. Her dress is super-heavy, but totally gorgeous: it glimmers and flashes with jeweled cloth, giving the impression that Katniss is engulfed in flames.
• Katniss is radiant and she thanks Cinna. Cinna asks if Katniss is ready for the interview. Katniss says she will be awful. Cinna says to just be herself, that she's only sullen and hostile around Haymitch, and that people will admire her spirit.
• This is all good news. Cinna says that she should pretend she's answering the question to him – find him in the audience and answer to him. Finally, a plan that might work!
• Everyone heads off to the stage constructed in front of the Training Center for the interview. Haymitch instructs Katniss to keep up the act that she's friends with Peeta.
• The set-up for the interviews is pretty elaborate, with cameras everywhere. Then there's Caesar Flickerman, the long-time host with powder blue hair who never seems to age. He's wearing a midnight blue suit with electric bulbs that twinkle like stars.
• The tributes are interviewed in order, all with their own shticks: District 1's girl tribute is playing up the sex appeal. District 2's boy is a "ruthless killer" (9.78). And so forth.
• Rue, the tiny girl from District 11, is wearing a gown with wings. She says she is hard to catch. Thresher is the boy tribute from that district. He's huge and solitary and speaks very little.
• Next up? Katniss. Caesar is a helpful and warm host. He asks Katniss what has most impressed her about the Capitol. She says the lamb stew. He laughs. Then audience joins in.
• Caesar asks about her costume for the opening ceremonies. Deciding to be honest, she gushes about Cinna's brilliance. Then she says she loves the dress she is wearing tonight. Caesar has her twirl for him – and she does.
• The interview continues and things turn personal. Caesar asks about the sacrifice she made by taking her sister Prim's place. Katniss tries to be warm, but can feel ice in her veins. She tells him that Prim asked her to win, and that she said she would.
• The interview is over and Cinna gives her the thumbs up.
• Peeta's interview is next and goes off without a hitch: he plays up the fact that he's a baker's son and is winning and funny with the host.
• And then? Time for a showstopper. Ready? Peeta tells the host that he has a crush on a girl, but that it's not going to work out. Why? Because she came to the Games with him.
• That's right, it's Katniss.

 (next, I will summarize chapter 10-18)