Book series you can't put down

The Hunger Games

• The Hunger Games
• Catching Fire
• The Mockingjay

There's no doubt you would have heard the hype about the latest book series sensation, The Hunger Games. This best-selling book trilogy was written by author Suzanne Collins, with the first book recently being adapted into a feature film, which opened in Australia on March 22. According to Scholastic Australia, more than 500,000 copies of the book trilogy have been sold nationwide.

A combination of science fiction, adventure and fantasy, the books are set in the future in the land of Panem, formerly known as North America. The nation is ruled by the Capitol, which established the annual Hunger Games in response to a citizen uprising a number of years before. Every year, each of Panem's 12 districts are forced to send one boy and one girl as "tributes" to fight to the death on live TV. The tributes use weapons and survival skills to try to outlast the 23 other children in the competition. Chosen at random by a lottery, the 24 tributes are left to fend for themselves in the ultimate test of survival-of-the-fittest.

In the 74th Annual Hunger Games, young Primrose Everdeen is selected to fight for District 12 but her older sister Katniss volunteers to take her place instead. Katniss and her male partner Peeta Mellark then have to compete against other players who have trained for the games their entire lives. The rules and terrain can change unexpectedly, and the fight for survival is very real. The second and third books follow Katniss as she deals with the aftermath of her defiance against the Capitol in the 74th Annual Hunger Games. Districts are destroyed, rebels unite and once again love rules the day.

Chronicles of Narnia

• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
• Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
• The Silver Chair
• The Horse and His Boy
• The Magician's Nephew
• The Last Battle

This classic book series was written by C.S. Lewis more than 50 years ago but is still much-loved by children and adults around the world today. Comprising seven fantasy novels published in the early 1950s, they've since been translated into more than 47 languages and made into a number of films worldwide.

Set in the fantasy land of Narnia, this seven-book series follows Peter, Susan, Lucy and Edmund who leave the real world via a wardrobe to enter this magical land and join the fight to help good triumph over evil. There is of course plenty of drama and action as they assist talking animals and fight evil leaders, all the while drawing the reader into an incredibly imaginative and awe-inspiring world.

Harry Potter

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

No list of best-selling books could ever be complete without including the much-loved story of Harry Potter. Join everyone's favourite protagonist, the orphaned wizard, as he learns about his parents, his calling and the dark side of magic in these seven captivating books. Harry and his best mates Ron and Hermione get up to all sorts of mischief at Hogwarts in this good versus evil tale. Filled with highly entertaining characters such as the esteemed Professor Dumbledore, eccentric half-giant Hagrid and sly Draco Malfoy, the Harry Potter series may be pitched as kids' books but we all know they've kept many adults turning the pages late into the night!

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