Mockingjay (Hunger Games Series #3)

by Suzanne Collins

Overview

The greatly anticipated final book in the New York Times bestselling Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins.

Format: 9 CDs, Unabridged Narrator: Carolyn McCormick

The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge.

Who do they think should pay for the unrest?

Katniss Everdeen.

The final book in The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins will have hearts racing, pages turning, and everyone talking about one of the biggest and most talked-about books and authors in recent publishing history!!!!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545101424
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	08/24/2010
Series:	Hunger Games
Pages:	10
Sales rank:	641,242
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 6.10(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Suzanne Collins is the author of the bestselling Underland Chronicles series, which started with Gregor the Overlander. Her groundbreaking young adult novels, The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay, were New York Times bestsellers, received wide praise, and were the basis for four popular films. She returned to the world of Panem with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Year of the Jungle, her picture book based on the year her father was deployed in Vietnam, was published in 2013 to great critical acclaim. To date, her books have been published in fifty-three languages around the world.

Editorial Reviews

This concluding volume in Collins's Hunger Games trilogy accomplishes a rare feat, the last installment being the best yet, a beautifully orchestrated and intelligent novel that succeeds on every level. At the end of Catching Fire, Katniss had been dramatically rescued from the Quarter Quell games; her fellow tribute, Peeta, has presumably been taken prisoner by the Capitol. Now the rebels in District 13 want Katniss (who again narrates) to be the face of the revolution, a propaganda role she's reluctant to play. One of Collins's many achievements is skillfully showing how effective such a poster girl can be, with a scene in which Katniss visits the wounded, cameras rolling to capture (and retransmit) her genuine outrage at the way in which war victimizes even the noncombatants. Beyond the sharp social commentary and the nifty world building, there's a plot that doesn't quit: nearly every chapter ends in a reversal-of-fortune cliffhanger. Readers get to know characters better, including Katniss's sister and mother, and Plutarch Heavensbee, former Head Gamemaker, now rebel filmmaker, directing the circus he hopes will bring down the government, a coup possible precisely because the Capitol's residents are too pampered to mount a defense. "In return for full bellies and entertainment," he tells Katniss, explaining the Latin phrase panem et circenses, "people had given up their political responsibilities and therefore their power." Finally, there is the romantic intrigue involving Katniss, Peeta and Gale, which comes to a resolution that, while it will break some hearts, feels right. In short, there's something here for nearly every reader, all of it completely engrossing. Ages 12-up. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for The Hunger Games

"A violent, jarring, speed-rap of a novel that generates nearly constant suspense. . . . I couldn't stop reading."
—Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly

"I was so obsessed with this book. . . . The Hunger Games is amazing."
—Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight saga

"Brilliantly plotted and perfectly paced."
—John Green, The New York Times Book Review

Praise for Mockingjay

*"The highly anticipated conclusion to the Hunger Games trilogy does not disappoint." - BOOKLIST

"The most compelling science-fiction saga of the past several years." - HORN BOOK

"The trilogy balances seriousness with special effects, a fundamental furious darkness with fast-paced storytelling, so that the books manage to be simultaneously disturbing and fun." NYT BOOK REVIEW

"Mockingjay is a fitting end to the series . . . and will have the same lasting resonance as William Golding's Lord of the Flies and Stephen King's The Stand." - SLJ

From the Publisher

Gr 7 Up—The final installment of Suzanne Collins's trilogy sets Katniss in one more Hunger Game, but this time it is for world control. While it is a clever twist on the original plot, it means that there is less focus on the individual characters and more on political intrigue and large scale destruction. That said, Carolyn McCormick continues to breathe life into a less vibrant Katniss by showing her despair both at those she feels responsible for killing and and at her own motives and choices. This is an older, wiser, sadder, and very reluctant heroine, torn between revenge and compassion. McCormick captures these conflicts by changing the pitch and pacing of Katniss's voice. Katniss is both a pawn of the rebels and the victim of President Snow, who uses Peeta to try to control Katniss. Peeta's struggles are well evidenced in his voice, which goes from rage to puzzlement to an unsure return to sweetness. McCormick also makes the secondary characters—some malevolent, others benevolent, and many confused—very real with distinct voices and agendas/concerns. She acts like an outside chronicler in giving listeners just "the facts" but also respects the individuality and unique challenges of each of the main characters. A successful completion of a monumental series.—Edith Ching, University of Maryland, College Park

School Library Journal

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