HOLY CUSSING SHIZZ!!!!!
you know how, when people walked on the moon, it was like, a really big deal? or when that one person invented the martini, and it was like, the most miraculous thing in the universe and changed mankind forever?
well, my friends, this is one of those days that will stand forever as a milestone in human existence.
because today, scholastic revealed the title and cover of the FINAL BOOK OF THE HUNGER GAMES (must… refrain… from weeping). without further ado, FEAST YR EYES ON THIS SUCKER:
the mockingjay is finally free!! GET IT? GET IT?!!!!!!
unfortunately, scholastic hasn’t revealed any other details except for some really lame jokes involving cinna, lady gaga and kanye west. dear scholastic: i could do without yr attempts at humor. WHAT I NEED IS MOCKINGJAY IN MY HANDS IMMEDIATELY.
so, what do you guys think? this is a party line post, which means GAB IT UP in the comments.
personally, i think it’s kind of… um, self-helpy? it’s just that the other book covers were so FIERCE and INTENSE and DARK and this one is all baby blue and la la LA! which is weird, cos based on our predictions, this final installment is gonna be the most badass of them all.
i do like the title, although i still wish collins’ had gone with henri’s suggestion, which, for the benefit of our more sensitive readers, i will short to “OFF.” you have to admit, OFF would sell like hotcakes! and, well, probably get scholastic sued. but whatever, it’s called KARMA FOR MAKING US WAIT UNTIL AUGUST 24TH GAAAAH.
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yes! i hope they have this at bea in may… but i dont want to get my hopes up…
Okay, so I think it’s definitely the blue cover that makes it look less fierce, but I do like the picture, and looking at the three books in a row, it has nice continuity, although def. tells the story -viva la revolucion!
So maybe this cover is a red herring to all of the tragedy we will find within its pages, or maybe it’s letting us know that things will work out in the end? So, like, when things are bad, we can close the book for a second and hum ‘Freebird’…
I like it, cause I like hopeful things. And I like to think that some poor sap who hasn’t read the Hunger Games series yet will pick it up at, like, the Wal-Mart (which, no hatin’, had Catching Fire before I could find it at a bookstore, so there!) and think, “This seems like a nice book! About a bird! I bet that bird’s name is Olive. I would like to read a book about a bird called Olive.” And then emerge, 350 pages later, a shaken, horrified, quivering mess and spend months wondering how to make Peeta their boyfriend.
Because if Peeta dies, SO HELP ME!!!
I LOVE IT! Yeah, it’s baby blue but it has such an icy tinge to it. And I love how the progression of the mockingjay is represented on each cover. Finally the mj is breaking free and flying with its wings spread wide, so I hope that it’s symbolic of the fight for freedom that these lovable kids are embarking on.
Put the 3 books side by side and I think they make quite a statement.
I’m laughing at Erin’s comment–I totally agree that this cover would trick an uninitiated reader. I think I like the title and what it represents, but the cover is pretty un-fierce. The blue just doesn’t do it for me–I need maybe electric green (something more intense). The bird image is too Pixar-ish.
Scholastic is definitely targeting a different readership with this powder-blue cover. As much as I like the mockingjay, this blue would not have been my first choice, either. A navy blue, even, would have seemed more suited to the past covers.
But is that so wrong? The trilogy’s readership is already pretty solidified, and I think Scholastic can count on just about everyone who’s read the first and second books to buy this third one. So I’m sure that this cover’s different feel is no accident. It’s the sort of color you find on covers targeting teenage girls, and mostly those who are more drawn to romances, fairy tales and high school stories. Hunger Games has been a great crossover title, appealing both to girls and boys, but maybe it’s not falling into the line of sight for a huge segment of the reading market — girls who like those books that are just targeted at girls.
And hey, if this cover makes them pick up the series, that’s okay with me. Anything that brings girls to books that feature strong women, especially strong women whose growth is not defined by their romances, is absolutely fine by me.
rachel, way to be a smarty pants! and i mean that in a good way, not in a mocking way (badum bum CHING!). double true to everything you wrote, esp. the part about introducing more female readers to Her Royal Fierceness, katniss.
erin, if peeta dies, we are totally having a funeral a la “empire records.” except unlike liv tyler’s acting, WE WILL BE SINCERE IN OUR SORROW.
“a bird called olive” is now my second favorite faux title (after “OFF” of course).
WEAK SAUCE. I’m not a fan of the cover or the title–there’s just no punch at all. But I don’t care, because the actual BOOK will be drenched in hard-core awesome sauce, and that is all that matters.
also, HEHEHE: except unlike liv tyler’s acting, WE WILL BE SINCERE IN OUR SORROW.
Okay, now the title I agree is definitely weak. I still love the art but the title is a bit boring. I think Catching Fire was a great title because it wasn’t an obvious title. Mockingjay is just blah and obvious.
the title’s ok, and i like the bird, but i agree — the blue needs more ice and intensity. baby blue’s just not depicting the HARD CORE AWESOMENESS that is katniss and the hunger games.
and i can’t stop laughing at erin’s comment. “a bird called olive” is totally second only to henri’s OFF from now on. i totally shudder to think how BLOWN APART the minds of those girls will be who pick up mj thinking it’s a sweet romance with fairies or something.
Yeah, BORING for sure.
It’s times like this that I’m glad I listen to audiobooks for YA instead of carrying that garbage around, because every time I held that cover in my hands I’d get angry.
C’mon, Scholastic! Why can’t you design your artwork based on the needs and desires of 32 year old grown men? Sheesh. If they’re not careful, they’re going to lose my demographic entirely.
LOL. My 33-year-old husband slipped off the dust jacket first thing when I handed him The Hunger Games and said, “You will read this.” They don’t design any of those covers for y’all.
You never know. Maybe there showing us this ‘baby’ as a joke and they’ll release the actual, much more bitchin’ cover later. But hey, if that doesn’t happen. I’m satisfied. Cuz guess what? IT’S STILL THE HUNGER GAMES, tame covers or not. But my vote still goes for a DARKER, less children’s picture book section cover. Yes? Yes.
I think Henri has a point. I felt cool walking around with CATCHING FIRE because it looked like it was about a revolution. MOCKINGJAY is an obvious title and the peaceful blue feels like it’s giving away a sweet ending where everyone ends up alive and happy.
Someone better die Joss Whedon style. And not Peeta.
Oh my gosh…this is like the best day of my young life!!!
I saved to cover to my computer and named the file mockingfreaking jay. I CANNOT WAIT! WHY SCHOLASTIC WHY MUST YOU TORTURE ME!? ahem…sorry for my outburst. But really I love the cover, maybe something good will happen to Katniss,Ha Ha Ha Even I don’t belive that. But a girl can hope. And in closing I AM SO TEAM GALE! Peeta is cool too but…
Ahh man, I can’t believe it’s 6 months till we can go get that!!
My first reaction to the cover was ‘aw, that’s pretty!’, but on second thought I very much agree that it looks very un-fierce compared to HG and CF. I think it’s the color that does it.. Could’ve been darker blue. It really reminds me of a dove, and going to heaven.. Kind of a slow, sad story, which I don’t think Mockingjay will be. Well, at least not slow!!
I wish there were more HG books to come. This is the final one, and I don’t want it to end!!
I love the cover of Mockingjay on its own, but compared to 1 and 2, it looks decidedly depressing. Which is appropriate, because this is the LAST BOOK. *sob* And we still have 8 months to wait with no ARCs? What the heck is the point of being a book blogger if you don’t get ARCs of the final installment of THE HUNGER-FREAKING-GAMES?
maggie, as a person who may or may not have started this blog in order to get an ARC of mockingjay, I FEEL YOU.
you guys! the UK version is SO MUCH COOLER: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=12673614&id=171124905510
why do we get the lame one?
well, i could do without the stephenie meyer quote and the HG with the feather symbol. it’s kind of cheesy in a “CRIME THRILLER” sort of way. then again, at least there’s no A BIRD NAMED OLIVE. sigh.
WORST QUOTE EVER. I could never love a cover with a StephEnie Meyer quote. WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT AND MAR THE COVER? HUNGER GAMES DOES NOT NEED HER APPROVAL!!
Well, I have to be honest here. I discovered HG because of S.M. She had posted on her website that she was reading a fantastic book that she couldn’t put down so I looked it up and thought it sounded interesting. She was right and I couldn’t put it down either. Shortly after that I started hearing so much about the book and I do think S.M’s rec helped get it out there. I don’t think they need her rec anymore though. The books stand on their own.
Oh man, if that’s true, I may have to take back what I said lol
Heh, Stephenie Meyer is actually what led me to REJECT reading THG for quite some time. Someone rec’d it to me with the following statement: “I mean, it’s not nearly as good as Twilight, of course, but it’s still kind of cool.”
Now, OBVS I was not going to read anything that someone described as “not as good as Twilight” because PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING is better than Twilight (in my humble opinion, anyway). So I was concerned about how much it would suck.
Basically, it took Sarah telling me to just read it already for me to get over my fears and pick it up.
so, erin, you’re basically saying i’m the wind beneath yr wings.