"The Hunger Games" begins with the annual "reaping" for the Games. Hoping to earn extra grain and oil for their hungry families, both Katniss and Gale submit their own names for selection for the Games multiple times, which means that both have a good chance of being chosen as tributes. Instead, however, Katniss is horrified when Effie Trinket – a Capitol resident who picks the tribute names for District 12 and brings the tributes to the city each year – reaches into the bowl of names and takes out the slip bearing the name of Katniss's little sister Prim. Katniss immediately volunteers to take Prim's place and becomes the newest female tribute.
Murray Close/HONS/Lionsgate/AP
