A comparison of war and violence in Harry Potter and The Hunger Games

Both JK Rowling's Harry Potter series and Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy present stories of war for young readers. Both present the action of war directly and then, through the device of the epilogue, raise the personal consequences that follow for the heroes. However, at this final point, they take markedly different approaches to those personal reactions. The ways in which each novel deals with war, violence and the outcomes provides a clear statement of the distinction between children's and young adult literature.