Katniss Everdeen her size from hunting to feed her family in the woods outside of District 12. Katniss is sixteen years old during the 74th Hunger Games and 17–18 years old during the Quarter Quell and the Rebellion. She also wears a pin of a mockingjay during the games to represent good luck. Katniss has received mostly positive reviews. In a review for "The Hunger Games", Stephen King said she was a "cool kid" with a "lame name," before adding, "once I got over [her] name...I got to like her a lot." Francisca Goldsmith in "Booklist" said, "Although Katniss may be skilled
Katniss Everdeen District 12, Katniss's home, the coal-mining district. District 12, in the Appalachian Mountains, is the poorest of the districts, and Katniss lives with her mother and sister in the poorest part of town, known as the Seam. Katniss's father, a coal miner, was killed in a mine explosion when Katniss was 11. After his death, Katniss's mother went into a deep depression and was unable to take care of her children. On the brink of starvation a few weeks before her twelfth birthday Katniss wandered into the richer part of town, hoping to steal some scraps from the garbage bins