The tale of Katniss Everdeen’s journey of survival in the post-apocalyptic country of Panem, where bread and circuses distract the privileged and allow a totalitarian regime to oppress the masses, parallels situations in our world today. At the same time, the series’ themes of resistance to oppression and hope for a better world, portrayed honestly as messy and difficult endeavors, echo the transformative way of life Jesus offered his followers."The Hunger Games and the Gospel" explores these themes that have resonated so deeply with Hunger Games readers by examining their similarity to the good news found in Jesus’ message about living in the ways of God’s Kingdom. Taking the rich statements of the Beatitudes, which serve as mini-pictures of God’s dreams realized on earth as in heaven, each chapter reflects on how those pictures are exhibited both in the narrative of The Hunger Games, and in Jesus’ time, and then explores their significance for our own world. Readers are invited to allow the inspiration of The Hunger Games help them live in the ways of the Kingdom of God by discovering how they too can work towards to possibility of a better world.

    Viņus aizrauj savdabīga sacensība, mēģinot notvert noslēpumainu autobusiņu, kurš spēj kliedēt cilvēku negatīvās emocijas. Taču sacensība ir tikai iegansts, kas ceļ gaismā gan pastāvošās iekārtas netaisnību, gan jauniešu sarežģītās attiecības – konkurenci, brāļu naidu, pirmo mīlestību...Sākas aizraujoši piedzīvojumi, kurus vada neapslāpējama cerība izmainīt pastāvošo...-------------------------------------------------------------------------Year 2101. After the devastating economic crisis of 2009, countries throughout the world have merged sprawling metropolises to avoid bankruptcy. Amidst them is Liberty, also known as Dust City. For almost 50 years it has been governed by a multi-corporation Genom X, which protects its citizens and exterminates the illegal inhabitants.For as long as everyone can remember, a blue-green van has been patrolling the streets of Dust City. Its purpose, destination and the identity of the driver are unknown. Wherever it appears, people feel happier. Some of the illegals have formed car racing teams to see who can get the closest to the van.Avery Cross is part of such a team. She thinks nothing of it. Because of the van's powers, nobody intends to harm it. The race is just a way to kill time... Or at least it was, until Avery's brother Brandon decides to catch the van – this time for real. Furious, Avery leaves her friends and joins the losing team with the purpose to help them win and make Brandon listen to reason. But what started as a harmless car race reveals a completely new and ugly face of the metropolis, and Avery may have a more significant role to play than she could ever imagine.

     As England descends into economic chaos, sixteen-year-old Barry Mortimer's life turns upside down when his father moves the family from their cozy home in the city to a grim, brick mansion on the outskirts of town. Why isn't anyone allowed to visit the Mortimers' new home? What is Father doing in the cellar and why is he keeping it a secret? As rumors of skyrocketing prices and food shortages become reality, Barry's world begins to crumble. Can his family hold together as a nation collapses around them? Terrifying because it could happen tomorrow... SUMMARY Written by award-winning author John Rowe Townsend, Noah's Castle tells the story of a family trying to survive during a total collapse of the British economy. Money is worthless, unemployment skyrockets, and food and other goods become scarce. As conditions worsen and people begin to starve, how do people react? When does law-and-order break down and civilized behavior end? How do people balance the needs of their family against those of society? Noah's Castle examines these questions but doesn't provide easy answers, resulting in a unique and thought-provoking story of survival.

    Nearly one thousand years later he sets new warriors on a quest to mete out justice . . . these warriors' veins flow not with human blood, but the strength of the dragon's. Weilding rusted swords whose blades still drip with the blood of the innocents slain by them, the dragon's human daughters set out to find the first of the traitors.

    His mother tried to prepare him for the Apocalypse, but she disappeared without telling him about the family legacy, his legacy. And as civilization slips into chaos and the line between dreams and reality blurs, Micah must uncover his mother’s secret before the souls of humanity are lost forever.The Vestige Series is a two-book Horror/Apocalyptic series.

    A name. A title. A sentence passed. If you aren’t a Beauty, you’re less than a person. You’re a commodity known as a Potential… and you only have so many chances to qualify as a human being. In her seventeen years, Eleven has seen the best and worst in humanity. She’s been passed around and abused by the bad. She’s hoped and dreamed for the good. And she’s despaired for the hand she’s been dealt. Now she’s been purchased by a wealthy man who has the ability to improve her life and help her become a Beauty – if she can put up with his erratic and controlling personality for long enough, that is. Complicating things is the appearance of a stunningly beautiful young man with amethyst eyes who treats Eleven to the rarest form of attention for a Potential: kindness. Does Eleven trust her powerful owner to help her escape this life of servitude and enslavement, or does she gamble everything on the enigmatic young man who seems to offer her more than she could ever imagine possible?

     *** Amber Tate believes the worst thing she'll suffer in life is dealing with the unrequited love she feels for her brother's best friend, Rylen Fite. She also believes war is something unfortunate that happens places far, far away from her rural Nevada town. She's wrong on both counts. When an unknown organization meticulously bombs major cities in the United States and across the globe, a trickle-down effect spreads to remaining towns at an alarming speed-everything from food and water sources to technology and communications are compromised. Without leadership, the nation is split between paralysis and panic, but Amber isn't one to hide or watch helplessly. She's determined to put her nursing skills to use, despite the danger, even if it means working alongside the man she can never have.

    “I’ll be back soon, my darling,” her mother, Sage, said the day she left. “Don't you worry. I just need to go find myself.”Do you have to run away in order to find yourself? Maeve wondered. When, exactly, do you know when that self you were so desperately looking for is found?Now Maeve is sixteen-years-old and Sage still hasn’t returned.Fiercely independent and disillusioned, Maeve has grown up with her mother’s ex-boyfriend as her only companion. Giving up all hope of Sage’s return, she convinces herself that mothers—and people—are unnecessary. When she meets Ky and Levi, she is adamant about keeping them at arms length. But Ky, the only true friend Maeve knows, and Levi, the boy with the startling blue eyes, crash through Maeve’s walls.Then one of them is wrenched away—permanently. And Maeve is left dangling with the final words they left behind: go find Sage Parker.

    Have you ever been to summer camp? What would you do if almost all of the adults left “for a few hours” and did not return? What would you do if the cell phones stopped working and your parents never showed up to take you home? What would you do if you discovered that the Earth was covered by a mysterious, dangerous brown fog? How would you survive the winter? How would you get more to eat?This is what Mike, John, Desi and the other campers have to contend with in Surviving the Fog.Warning: sexual situations, cursing, brief violence

    Gifted with the unusual ability to weave time with matter, sixteen-year-old Adelice Lewys is exactly what the Guild is looking for, and in the world of Arras, being chosen as a Spinster is everything a girl could want. It means privilege, eternal beauty, and being something other than a secretary. It also mean the power to embroider the fabric of life. But Adelice isn't interested. Because once you become a Spinster, there's no turning back.

    Because the end came and went and now she's alone in the middle of nowhere--doomed to dwell in the darkness because of the impossible sun that rules over the barren land.One simple, ordinary night everything changed. The night Elle met Tex. The night where she learned about a paradise, completely opposite of the dry, dusty life she had been living. Now Elle and Tex must defy all odds as they find themselves on a journey that will change them forever--a journey that will threaten to tear them apart in more ways than one.Let yourself be swallowed up in this tale of suspense, betrayal, and love.

    They’re trying to limit the amount of people in the world.” I watch him stand and turn for the door. “There’s a lot about your parents that you don’t know and the sooner you realize that, the sooner you can start doing something about it.”From the day we’re born, we’re introduced to the marvels of modern medicine. It is amazing how a simple vaccine can prevent polio, hepatitis B, rotavirus—the list is almost endless. But, what if that were no longer the case? What if the government unleashed each virus for the sole purpose of controlling the population? Henly Sawyer finds herself discovering this truth for the first time, and as she does, the world that she thought she knew shatters. She wakes in Aurora, a quarantine miles from home, and is forced into a grueling reality. Henly strives to piece together the truth about her parents and their involvement in the unfolding chaos. With the help of her new friends, Renner and Dex, Henly sets out to understand a world that is now filled with Deviations—an infected group of violent, murderous humans.

    But when a girl she knows is murdered by a monster she can't explain, Cera's world turns upside down. Suddenly thrown into an ancient supernatural battle, Cera discovers she's not alone in her gifting and vows to use her visions to save lives. But why does John Milton's poem Paradise Lost keep interrupting her thoughts? In a race against time and a war against unearthly creatures, will decoding messages embedded in the works of classic literature be enough to stop the bloodshed and protect those she loves?

    It’s the last place you should be. Gabriel doesn't know how it began. Nobody does, not even Kane, and he was President. Gabriel was on a tour of the White House with Mags and the rest of Miss Kimble’s first-graders when it happened. They fled in helicopters to a long-abandoned mountain bunker, even as the first of the missiles found their targets.Ten years have passed, and Gabriel still lives deep inside the mountain, waiting for the world to thaw. But outside the ash-storms continue to rage, and supplies are running low. The President says it will be okay, but Gabriel isn’t so sure. He’s their scavenger; he’s seen what it’s like out there.Then one day Gabriel finds a bloodstained map. The blood’s not a problem, nor are the frozen remains of the person it once belonged to. Gabriel’s used to seeing dead bodies; there's far worse to be found in any Walmart or Piggly Wiggly you care to wander into. Except this one he recognizes, and it shouldn’t be here. Now all Gabriel can think is how he's going to make it back to the bunker to let the President know what he's found.But the map Gabriel has found is the key to a secret, one that has been buried for a decade. Gabriel's about to learn that inside the mountain things are not as they seem. And to get Mags and the others out he will need to face the thing that terrifies him most.

    With Princess Alina engaged to be married, Mackenna's presence as companion is no longer required and, like it or not, she must return to the birthright which should have been hers - that of a commoner. But not everyone at the palace wants her gone. When the truths she's based her life on start crumbling as fast as her future, will she find the courage to trust, both herself and the prince she's fallen in love with?