'The Hunger Games': 10 favorite scenes

The ordeals of Suzanne Collins' heroine Katniss Everdeen, a teenager living in a dystopian country called Panem who is forced to participate in the deadly Hunger Games, have captured imaginations all over the world. The fast pace of "The Hunger Games," the first book of Collins' "Hunger Games" trilogy, has driven readers to flip through pages desperately, trying to find out the fates of Katniss and friends Peeta and Gale as well as those of Katniss's family and other District 12 residents. With the movie adaptation of the first book coming out on March 23, book fans will soon be seeing their favorite scenes up on the big screen for the first time. Here are 10 of the best of those scenes from "The Hunger Games." (Warning: Spoilers follow!)

1. Katniss volunteers in Prim's place

Lionsgate/YouTube screenshot

Katniss, a teenager already hardened to the harshness of her world, loves her little sister Prim more than almost anything. In order to get the family more grain and oil, Katniss has already put forward her own name to be a competitor in the deadly Hunger Games, in which children and teenagers fight to the death. But she's taken completely unawares when it's her sister Prim who is chosen instead. Katniss immediately volunteers to be a tribute instead rather than have her gentle little sister face the Hunger Games arena.

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