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My name is Katniss Everdeen. You probably know who I am, now that I've been portrayed

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by an Academy Award-winning actress in a blockbuster movie.

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I'm from District 12. It's like West Virginia, but poorer, seeing that the apocalypse has

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come and gone and North America is now ruled by the Capitol.

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I used to spend my days getting into it with my mom, caring for my sister Prim, chillin'

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with my buddy Gale, and hunting with my bow and arrows.

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When the 74th Annual Hunger Games rolled around, all us tribute-aged kids from District 12

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got our names put in a big hat. My little sister's name got picked...

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...so I volunteered to go in her place, because I'm just that awesome. Peeta, the baker's

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son, was selected as tribute, too. In the Capitol, Peeta and I were mentored

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by Haymitch, who was on a first-name basis with Jim Beam. Our stylists, Cinna and Portia,

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lit us on fire.

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Then, when I put on my Legolas face and wowed the Gamemakers, Peeta busted out that he'd

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been in love with me for, like, ever. Um, okay. The audience seemed to like that angle,

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so I rolled with it. Let the Hunger Games begin! On the first day,

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everybody died. Okay, obviously not everyone, or I wouldn't be telling you this story, but

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the death toll was significant.

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I did my best Girl Scout impression and relied on my survival skills to get through the day.

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Peeta, however, became besties with the Career Tributes, who did their darnedest to try and

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kill me. Fortunately, some tracker jackers got in the way.

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I formed an alliance with Rue, this cute kid from District 11, and we were amazing for

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a little while...

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...but then she got killed. I covered her body with flowers because I found itÉ aesthetically

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pleasing. The audience, however, thought this was my way of stickin' it to the Man.

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And then the announcer was like, rule change! Turns out the Peeta-hearts-Katniss-forever

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thing was really popular...

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...so popular, that two people from a single district would be allowed to win the Hunger

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Games for the first time ever. It looked like Peeta and I might make it out after all. Of

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course, he had to survive that nasty leg wound first.

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I nursed Peeta back to health, acting romantical the whole time, because that got us gifts

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from our sponsors. Once Peeta was functional again, it was time

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to kill Cato, the only other tribute still left alive. But first, man-eating mutant dogs!

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Awesome!

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I shot Cato, and he fell back into the pack and things gotÉ kinda messy.

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At last, Peea and I were in the clear, but then there was another rule change. Peeta

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and I were going to have to kill each other after all...

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...or we could just eat poisoned berries, commit suicide, and go on to that big District

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12 in the sky. Suicide, it seems, is not a legit out in the

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Hunger Games, so the powers that be decided, hey, we won after all!

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However, the Capitol was less than happy with that outcome. In order to avoid being punished,

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Peeta and I had to continue acting all lovey-dovey.

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Except it turned out that Peeta really did love me. Oops. And he knew I didn't love him.

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Double oops. Oh, well. Even if my love life was on the

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rocks, I'd managed to survive the Hunger Games. At least that was an experience I'd never

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have to go through again...

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...right?

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