I’m a 13 year-old boy, and when I was 11 I started reading The Hunger Games. A few months ago, an article was posted by a reader on Hypable asking if The Hunger Games is suitable for an 11 year old.

That article made me wonder, when should children start reading The Hunger Games? Finally I have come up with an opinion.

One girl in my grade read The Hunger Games and wanted to host her own fake Hunger Games with fake weapons. After that I began thinking that even some Young Adults might not be mature enough to read it. When I read it I immediately picked up the themes and messages in the books, but that doesn’t mean that every 11 year old would. Some people say that the rule of thumb is that if you are old enough to be eligible for the Reaping, then you are old enough to read The Hunger Games. I honestly don’t think that is true.

I think it depends on your maturity. Some 8 year olds may even be mature enough to handle the violent elements and strong themes of self sacrifice. Violence impacts people in different ways. For example, like Andrew Sims said in episode 12 of Hunger Games Chat, some people can’t handle the tension of Cato snapping someone’s neck so they cheer to diffuse it. I think that if a child picks up The Hunger Games and doesn’t get the point of the story, then it was a wasted read. Parents might shelter their kids from the books, but before you do that, I recommend you read it and decide if your child is mentally mature enough to get the themes in The Hunger Games. If your child reads it, discuss the book with them. It depends on the kid’s maturity.

I’m not putting an age limit on the book, but I think that a child should be mentally and emotionally mature enough to handle the concepts in the book. Do you agree?

Editor’s note: This opinion article was written by one of our younger readers. Please keep that in mind when responding in the comments!