The books came out when I was a teen. Back then, I was enduring severe abuse from my Nparents and lived in an extremely oppressive and toxic community. I couldn’t relate to any other films, books or media for teens of the era because it was too happy and too sanitized. I also couldn’t stand the trope of the teenage hero with superpowers that somehow saves the universe even though they’re still a teen, as it was completely ridiculous to me.

The Hunger Games was the first portrayal of realistic PTSD and devastating consequences of trauma on teenagers that I’ve read. The characters had similar symptoms and behaviours as me - extreme fear, paranoia, nightmares, avoidance of triggers, having completely dysfunctional everyday lives, emotional dysregulation. Moreover, I found the character of Katniss - a teenager who grew up poor with neglect who had to be in survival mode her whole life, with a poor education, who is extremely traumatized by the violence she lives through, who is very politically naive and therefore gets easily abused and exploited by very powerful older adults with nefarious intentions for their own selfish gains - very relatable. She doesn’t have special powers and is just a kid who has to do her best to survive in a horrible world where adults are cruel and terrible.

I remember there was criticism when the books came out that it was too dark and violent for kids. But at least to me, it helped me feel a bit less alone in my trauma and helped me understand it better. I don’t agree that children’s media has to always be happy and sanitized because that’s far from every child’s reality and kids who have the misfortune to have shitty childhoods deserve their stories to be reflected too.