Suzanne Collins

"[The Hunger Games trilogy] spread like wildfire," says Annmarie Powers, a teacher in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., in a statement to USA TODAY, the Nation's No. 1 Newspaper. The teacher explained that the books, written by author Suzanne Collins, "deal with themes that teens are consumed with: 'fairness, relationships, plenty of violence and blood, greed, hypocrisy, subservience and rebellion.'"

Collins came up with the storyline one night while channel surfing. Images of televised news coverage of the U.S.-led war in Iraq blurred in her mind with scenes from a reality show and sparked an exciting idea. What about a story that focused on teens in a fight-to-the-death battle, televised live from start to finish?