PEOPLE!!!!!! MOCKINGJAY COMES OUT IN LESS THAN A MONTH!!!!! WE NEED TO PREPARE!!!
sure, we’ve been waiting practically a century for this mothercussing book to be released, but for some reason, the closer it gets, the more nervous i become. like, WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN?!! SUZANNE COLLINS ARE YOU GOING TO KILL PEETA?!!! and so help me god if CINNA IS DEAD I WILL CUT YOU.
the only thing that may possibly prevent me from dying of a spazz attack between now and august 24th is, of course, endlessly chattering about the book in the most freakishly animated way possible. or, as i prefer to describe it, engaging in a highly intellectual discussion of mockingjay predictions. so gather yr thoughts, harness that OMG IF THIS HAPPENS I WILL DIE anxiety and let’s get down to serious business!
let us begin with the most important question:
1. Will Katniss Make Betty Friedan Proud?
by the end of “catching fire,” it was pretty obvious that katniss is totes over serving as a puppet in other people’s schemes. girlfriend is ready to take matters into her own hands, with peeta’s rescue as her number one priority. the question is, will she go rogue? stay with gale? sever ties with haymitch? personally, i think she’ll probably keep at least gale around, but she’ll actually make decisions for herself (FINALLY). they’ll regroup as planned in district 13 (maybe with a pit stop in the ruins of district 12?!) then head back to the capitol with a plan to rescue peeta and overthrow president snow. i’m guessing that katniss will defer leadership of the rebel army but will somehow be forced to step up anyway. AWW OUR LITTLE TRIBUE IS ALL GROWED UP! the tension between her desire to save peeta and save the entire country should result in some pretty fantastic angst, not to mention fierce badassery.
moving on to the question that haunts my dreams and peppers all of my conversations, leading to a severe drop in party invitations:
2. WHO WILL DIE?
LORDY LORD this book is gonna be a bloodbath. and by that i mean, TWILL BE AWESOME. here’s my prediction on who will bite the panem dust:
haymitch (while attempting to assassinate president snow)
finnick (in battle/during the prison break)
johanna (in battle/during the prison break)
prim (i realize this is wishful thinking but COME ON. she either needs to grow a pair or die quickly)
president snow (ARROWED BY KATNISS. OBVS)
gale (more on this below)
3. Who will Katniss Choose?
who am i kidding, this is obviously the most important question that mockingjay will (hopefully) answer. wait. omg you guys. WHAT IF SUZANNE LEAVES US HANGING WITH SOME HEINOUSLY AMBIGUOUS ENDING?!!! QUELLE NIGHTMARE!!!!!! ok, ok, that’s not gonna happen. right? RIGHT?!!! holy shizz i just freaked myself out royally. give me a minute.
ahem. ok. so. i’ll admit that i’m team peeta, but i don’t think this bias has anything to do with my prediction that gale will sacrifice himself to save katniss, who will mourn his loss but ultimately discover, upon finding peeta, that she’s in love with him (and his croissants, of course). personally i think this is a really lazy way to go, because i want collins to force katniss to choose instead of giving her an easy way out. either way, i doubt there will be a “happily ever after” ending, which is good, cos hunger games ain’t no fairy tale, y’all! so, suzanne, whatever you decide, just do me a favor and KEEP IT REAL. and also PLZ DON’T KILL MY PEETA.
4. Is Cinna Alive?
YES. HE’S GOT TO BE. HE’S GOT. TO. BE!!!!!!
i’m hoping that he’ll work with peeta to break out of prison (hello! he can sew guard outfits!) and then survive the ensuing battle so he can make fabulous new government uniforms and obvs a new wedding dress for katniss (whenever she decides to get married. no rush! “rule the country now, get married later!” has always been my personal mantra).
so, those are the four main questions that keep me awake at night and better be answered in mockingjay, otherwise i will find suzanne collins and GO HUNGER GAMES ON HER ASS.
enough from me! let’s hear from some other FYAers:
meghan:
my dad and i had extensive conversations about this while going for long walks before thomas was born, and decided peeta is going to come back and gale and katniss will think he was a spy for the capitol. BUT, peeta’ll actually be a double agent, but because of his stupid insistence on hiding things from katniss all the time, she won’t know he’s still on her side and either she or gale will kill him, then find out their mistake. i don’t think suzanne collins would really do that to us, but it’s still an intriguing idea.
or gale will sacrifice himself to save peeta’s life, cos he’s all dedicated to the cause like that.
all i know is there better be more cinna. and croissants. i mean, if district 13 is really paradise, surely there are croissants, right?
jenny:
I think Cinna and Peeta will somehow start an alliance of rebel forces while being imprisoned and tortured. But I also think Gale will sacrifice himself. I think, in the end, it might be Katniss and Haymitch who are the survivors, and they would live out their days in drunken stupor. Cinna and Peeta would probably not make it out, but they’d do something heroic, and have a special moment or two. I think Mom is going to grow a pair, finally, and she and Prim are going to be tough-ass healing bitches. I think Peeta will kill President Snow. I really don’t think all these things will happen, but I think it would be awesome if they did!
erin:
Will Haymitch descend into a shame spiral like Mel Gibson? If Cinna is still alive (HE BETTER BE ALIVE!), will he be a contestant on Project Runway? (Subquestion: will he be a fan favorite like Daniel V and then turn into a bit of a dick?) Will Peeta EVER send me some hot cross buns??
and now it’s y’all’s turn. are we totally right? completely wrong? share yr predictions/spazzing in the comments!
i’ll leave you with the lametastic new mockingjay trailer, which tells us nothing except that scholastic still thinks the cartoon mockingjay, aka olive, is cool. dear scholastic OLIVE WILL NEVER BE COOL.
gah i need a drink.
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I think Gale is going down too. I even think beside being willing to sacrifice his life for Katniss, he will be devoted to helping her rescue Peeta (and that’s why I love him. And Peeta. I still can’t decide). I agree with Posh that having one of them die is kind of the cowardly way to go because girlfriend should have to make SOME sort of decision here. Also, I’m not sure where I read it (MTV maybe?) but I heard that the first chapter of Mockingjay opens with Katniss at the ruins of District 12. Sniff. Sniff.
Lastly…I’m so excited about this release!!! It makes me feel like less of a total spazz-o to know that there are people out there who obsess over every last detail their favorite books like I do. Because it’s vitally important, obviously.
I predict that President Snow will be assassinated within the first few pages. However, Katnis realizes that the nation cannot survive such a sudden power vacuum, so she, Peeta, and Gale are forced to pretend that the president is still alive, to the extent of dressing up his corpse and carrying him around to important state events. Think of the whackiness that will ensue! Gale and Peeta, arguing over Katniss, unaware than their charge has slipped face first into the soup! An important ambassador talking to the President, not noticing that Katinis is standing behind him, nodding his head like a puppet. Perhaps the corpse falls into the back of a passing truck and ends with a high speed chase! The beauty of this is that this could go on for another book. I call it ‘Weekend at Snowy’s.’ Suzanne Collins, I’d be totally willing to co-author this with you.
I would read ‘Weekend at Snowy’s’ in a heartbeat, Brian! I think you should get on that, stat!
Best idea ever.
COMEDY GOLD, BRIAN. i personally can’t wait for the scene during the annual Panem National Holiday pageant when katniss, peeta and gale have to dress up president snow in his traditional garb and orchestrate his performance of the Panem Jig (while singing the national anthem, of course).
Oh, Weekend at Bernie’s jokes never get old.
I just laughed a tic tac out of my own mouth! Oh dear. But how long could they keep it up? How could they explain away the smell of rotting prez? Blaming it on Gale, I suppose, is always an option…
GAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH I just realized that this book is being released ONE DAY after my vacation starts. I had thought it was being released the day BEFORE the start of my vacay, but NOOOOOO it had to be one day after didn’t it?! The problem: as of August 23rd, I am going to be nowhere near a bookstore for 2 weeks. OMFG what the hell am I going to do??? WHY LORD WHY???
Ahem. ANYWAY, I think that Katniss is gonna be torn between Gale and Peeta — for some reason I do think Suzanne Collins is gonna write it so that she has to for reals finally choose between them. At least I certainly hope so! I am 1000% Team Peeta so obvs I can’t give an unbiased opinion, but I think she’ll end up w/ Peeta.
zomg where are you going that doesn’t have a bookstore?!??! and does Amazon deliver there?!??
We’re going up to our cottage which is on an island in Lake Huron…boat access only and definitely no nearby bookstores!
I am for sure going to try & bribe my husband into driving me in to the nearest town in order to hit up a Chapters or whatnot. But I def won’t have it in my hands on the 24th…gaaaahhhhh….probably not until at least a week after that…
on the upside, samantha, NO SPOILERS! so that’s something, i guess.
Actually, believe it or not, we do get a wireless connection up there. So I will have to force myself not to check the interweb…especially this blog!
I just got an email from Amazon saying that ALTHOUGH I pre-ordererd, it will be dispatching ON the release date (God knows why) and so might not arrive until the 31st! THE THIRTY-FIRST! That’s not good customer service, Amazon! If it’s not here on the day, I’ll just have to nip out and buy a copy and then return it and wait for mine. Or return the Amazon one. Or something. Gah! I can’t be logical with all this angsty anticipation!
On the upside, when the apocalypse happens, we’ll all die, in our cities, clutching our copies of Mockingjay and you’ll be safe at your post-A cabin, lol!
Hahaha, true I guess!
On the other hand, WHAT USE IS GOING ON LIVING IF I CAN’T READ MOCKINGJAY??!
lol this just brings about a great mental image.
I am very thankful for my vacation that will be coming up to hopefully distract me from this wait…AUG 24th WHY AREN”T YOU HERE?
on another note. I believe that Katniss will end up with Peeta..as it should be…with Gale dying trying to save Peeta’s life. Katniss will kill Pres. Snow..then take power with Cinna there the whole time designing new outfits. HE CANNOT DIE!! I am thinking not all of Katniss’s family makes it..someone is probably in that destroyed District..I am guessing Prim.
I used my Borders gift card to order the whole trilogy (I borrowed the first two)! But the first two won’t arrive until Mockingjay comes out (because I’m cheap and opted for the free shipping), and I want to re-read them before Mockingjay, which means I will be a bit behind the discussion and will have to avoid tons of posts on this blog until I’m all caught up! Then I’ll leave lots of Johnny-come-lately remarks.
I love Peeta, but that does NOT mean I want Gale to die. I would lose. my. fucking. mind.
Plus, if Cinna died it would have kind of a Fred Weasly effect. Like, you didn’t know how much you loved him until the life drained out of his (I imagine) gorgeous eyes.
I want Mom to die. What’d she ever do for me?
i don’t think i’ll be able to stand it if they keep his dying scene in the DH movie. box o’ tissues will be brought
They can’t kill Fred in the DH movie, but then again they HAVE to. If they don’t, people wont realise JUST how evil Voldemort was! See, I don’t think they get it yet!
Something they DO have to keep in is:
“NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH!”
omg, i love all the weasleys (except percy). fred, noooooooooo!!!!!
I even have a soft spot for ol’ Perce. It’s the glasses…
I AM SO FREAKING EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I already pre-ordered this at school through that Scholastic Book Orders catalog(And got a replica Mockingjay pin-SCORE!-) and will be living next to my mailbox for most of august 24th.
About the Who Will Die question,
I really do think that (obvs!) either Gale or Peeta will die :”(
I imagine what will happen is that one of them will sacrifice themselves for Katniss, thinking she loves the other one but she actually loves them andddd blah blah blah. Kind of like in Buffy!
Can.Not.Wait.
How have I never discovered this brilliant site before?
Anyway, I have no predictions. I refuse to make them. I did so with HARRY POTTER and all of them came true (but executed in ways that I did not like). Therefore I will not give voice to mine for fear of what will happen to my beloved Peeta.
(TEAM PEETA FOREVER.)
P.S. Like you, I am a supposed “adult”. 95% of my reading outside of work (I work at St. Martin’s Press as an editorial assistant) is YA. And I am not ashamed to admit it.
St Martins, eh?? You realize, of course, that when Sweet Valley Confidential: 10 Years Later comes out, my face is going to explode?
TEEM PEETA FOREVER!!! SUCK IT GALE!
Yep, SWEET VALLEY CONFIDENTIAL is my boss’s title.
(A lot of people’s heads have already explodes re: SV.)
GLAD TO KNOW I’M NOT THE ONLY GALE DISLIKER. (I don’t hate him. But I just don’t LIKE him either.)
well then . . . i apologize in advance for Friday’s post.
(Shhhhh, don’t tell my boss but…
…I’ve never read SVH.)
JJ, luckily for your SVH ignorance, we’re reviewing all of them! So you can bone up on at least the first 35 SVH books and impress your boss!!! Just search for sweet valley high in the search box to find them.
All I know is that if Cinna dies, I will be crying tears into a massive bowl of chocolate ice cream. PLEASE DON’T BE DEAD, CINNA.
I’m def expecting some District 13. I need to reread Catching Fire again…I forgot most of what happened, except for the clock games and the fake pregnancy and going from Team Gale to Team Peeta by the end of the book. More drama!
Haha this is SO epic! I actually just wrote a post on my website about how I’m preparing for this. And actually I think Gale is going to win….and Peeta will sacrifice himself for this. But only because if you look closely you can see that Suzanne is closely following the myth of Theseus AND the story of Spartacus. http://frankiediane.blogspot.com/2010/07/mockingjay-prep.html
Also Cinna had BETTER be alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This may be blasphemous, but I’m not a huge fan of Peeta. He’s too… girly (baking! sacrificial!) or something for me. That’s not to say I’m super pro-Gale though, I just like him better than Peeta. I think Katniss and Gale are a better couple than Katniss and Peeta. I don’t have any predictions for Mockingjay though: I never make predictions and would rather just read and see where the author takes things. I cannot WAIT for August 24th… depending on whether or not I get a teaching job (school starts the 23rd) I will be at B&N at midnight to get my copy, then go straight home and read it. Yay for the Hunger Games!
OH SWEET LORD, That trailer is DANGEROUS to my health! And it’s too late at night to justify that excitement…
Eeek! And, in repsonse to the questions, I too have been thnking that Katniss will sort of go rogue, and make her own plans to save Peeta, but this could well be a foolish thing to do as – while Peeta and Cinna and the croissants my ultimately be saved – it will cost us many lives.Like probably Gale. I don’t think he’ll make it, but I think he’ll die after Katniss has chosen. And chosen Peeta.
Oh, and I also wonder how much of this crazy will go down in a more public manner. And I’m curious as to how the Capital explained what went on at the end of the last Hunger Games, when everything exploded… did they just say that everyone had died, or is there a very public hunt on for the rebels? Or was there somebody left who they have decided had nothing to do with it? No, they probably assumed them all to be rebels…
If Peeta, Cinna, or… I dunno, anyyone else dies, I will sob oceans. Oceans. Except Gale. I don’t HATE Gale, but it would make my life… ahem: *Katniss’s* life a lot easier afterwards if he just sodded off (and died). But I have rather massive soft spots for many many many other main characters. Like Finnick. So I’ll cry if he’s killed.
And I could go on like this for a very long time. So, in fear of doing so, I’ll just cut myself short… TEAM PEETA! <3
I feel like I should send out the following postcards to my incoming students…
Dear kid,
MockingJay is coming out on the second day of school. Please be prepared to entertain yourselves for the entirety of the 24th so Mrs. Katcher can read her book.
Love, Mrs. Katcher
ps. I hope there’s lots of gasping out loud moments and furious page turning in this one. Please please Suzanne Collins, don’t weinie out on the end however it happens!
That is my biggest fear, that she will pull a Stephenie Meyers and weenie out on the ending. Build up for a huge confrontation and then send everyone home for hot cocoa and croissants. Not that there is anything wrong with hot cocoa and croissants, just something wrong with weak, anti-climatic endings.
But, I don’t really think she will do that. I think it will be exciting and devastating throughout the entire book.
Can’t wait for 08/24!!
as long as there are no impossible mutant babies named peetniss, i think we will be okay.
PEETNISS!!!! OMGGGGG.
Sandy, THIS IS WHY YOU ARE MY FAVORITE TEACHER. Maybe you could print out a few chapters and have your students dramatically reenact them!
i want to second both of erin’s statements and add a further suggestion: PLEASE VIDEO THE REENACTMENTS AND LET US POST THEM. it’ll be like those kids reenacting scarface and the hills except with more arrows and fake blood. i can tell you right now, you’re gonna have some v. proud parents on yr hands.
Seriously, one of the most hilarious posts I’ve read in a long time!
Not sure if you guys saw this but I couldn’t resist sharing (just in case): http://hollywoodcrush.mtv.com/2010/05/28/hunger-games-movie-moves-forward-and-we-get-a-mockingjay-sneak-peek/
A clue!!
yeah, that party happened during BEA and yet WE RECEIVED NO INVITATION. jenny and i comforted ourselves with the knowledge that at least we didn’t have to hear suzanne’s hick katniss accent because IT’S TERRIBLE AND WRONG.
It’s wrong, but everyone’s British in my head. Except Haymitch and Gale. Haymitch, because he sounds cooler saying “sweeheart” condescendingly in “American”, and Gale… probably because he has the voice of “America Emo Boy” in my head. It’s weighted down with seriousness. I don’t think of him that way on purpose, but I can’t change it!
For symmetry I’d like to see another Games held somehow. But now the revolution has started I’m not sure how, maybe they all have a big showdown battle in an arena that was being prepared for the next games.
Maybe Katniss will sneak in and burn it to the ground. Like the Girl on Fire should. Though, if it’s another waterena, that may be difficult. And it might also be effing huge.
You know what I’d like? Some backstory. How did the US turn into this dictatorship? War? Famine? OBAMACARE? And how does the Capitol come up with those gee wizz arenas? What’s the true level of technology? And what’s happening in the rest of the world? If they have televised battles to the death here, you know they’re eating the flesh of their dead in Toronto. Seriously, though, is the rest of the world as miserable at the former US? If not, why don’t they give us a hand? Or is district 13 in exile down in Tijuana, just waiting to surge across the border?
It’s okay Brian…I give you permission to start the Hunger Games fan fic….
BWAHAHAHA.
but only if we can post it here.
if district 13 is in tijuana, ain’t no WAY they’re coming back to panem. who would give up margaritas for the black lung? NO ONE.
Wait, I just had a terrible thought: what if Cinna shows up in Mockingjay as an Avox? I will die.
NO NO NO NO NO!!!! Now I’m never going to be able to sleep again! Oh, Cinna!! PLEASE KEEP YR PRECIOUS TONGUE!
NO! WHAT?!?! That hadn’t even occured to me! What if Peeta’s an Avox? I’ll never forgive myself!
I could’ve made a better trailer with crayons and stop-motion photography. Nevertheless — I am counting the days!
I demand you make this trailer, and let us post it. PLEASE!
Can I just ask, WHY is this coming out on a Tuesday?? It is so cruel! How on earth am I supposed to focus in school knowing that mockingjay is out and I can’t read it yet? I told my dad he has to go to barnes and noble as soon as it opens and get the book for me! He laughed, which I’m going to assume was a yes.
My mockingjay prediction: katniss is gonna kick some major butt! Can’t go wrong with that one
I KNOW – I will be useless at work on the 24th, as I will definitely be up all night reading. Actually, I’ll probably be useless on the 23rd, too, because I will be so anxious about what happens to Cinna. And Peeta. And Gale. And, God help me, Finnick, because I love him, too.
Oh noes! I just started reading HG due to the recommendations of youse guise! I guess I better get to it!
kristen, i can pretty much guarantee that you will have ZERO problems reading HG and CF in, like, two days.
This is my question: What will happen TO US after we’ve read Mockingjay? Personally, this book’s been my raison d’etre forevs! What’ll there be to live for on August 25?
Oh, and who will die? Horton, the cat. (Wrong book, I know. Still think SOMEWHERE in literature that poor kitty’s gonna get nommed.)
Kill Buttercup, the grimy little prick. Actually, it’s probably already dead…
Hey guys I just thought you’d all appreciate this!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPc5UIJKhvY&feature=player_embedded
not made by me but whoever did deserves props!! (casting is good too, except for peeta. I don’t think zac would cut it. Gooo team peeta bread!!!
I was watching that and the the end came and I was like “Jesus, is that EFRON?” Also, I’m always remarkably uninformed of these things, so when it first started, I didn’t recognise the films and thought it was an ACTUAL trailer for a Hunger Games Film. And then I was *disgusted*. But it’s actually a fantastic fan-made trailer, if we discount the bits from Twilight (they were just too obvious and I didn’t get why they were there.) I didn’t actually totally get that it was a fan trailer until I saw the skins footage. And then I felt a fool.
I though casting was great though, apart from Efron. Peeta looks like Alex Pettifer in my head… a bit. Mmmm. Especially Katniss and Gale – I though Kaya Scholedario (sp?) was an interesting choice. That’s what we need – more Brits! We’re taking over Hollywood, people! And I’m next!
i just created a new topic under YA Film Adaptations in the caf so we can keep up our wild speculation on HG casting. oh and also so HOLLYWOOD CAN READ IT HINT HINT.
I’m THERE.
Wow, that was amazing! Good work, whoever did that! Love the casting, except for Peeta.
UM THAT TRAILER IS AMAZING. minus the efron. go back to the forest with yr dead bro, charlie st. cloud, and LEAVE PEETA ALONE.
seriously, though, i got goosebumps!!!! and Kaya Scholedario seems like an EXCELLENT katniss (although i’ve never watched skins. i know, i know, i’m trying! i gotta… get the dvds or something?).
i can only imagine how much my pants are going to spazz when the real trailer finally pops up. thanks for the link, irishgirl!
I didn’t realize until I saw that trailer that I always pictured Christoph Waltz as President Snow while reading the books. He would be a GENIUS President Snow. Oh man, if a movie is really made of the Hunger Games, I will probably die of happiness and go around telling random people on the street how they’re the best books ever and everyone needs to read them before they see the movie or else I will be VERY MAD.
Ooooh, I LOVE Christopher Waltz as President Snow! He could do the creepy-evil-possibly-drinks-human-blood-as-an-apertif thing very well, I think.
THAT’S A BINGO!
I don’t know that actress but she is exactly how I picture Katniss. Same with President Snow. Efron is too pretty boy for Peeta. The clip was really well made but The Twilight clips were way to jarring and out of place.
Kaya Scoledario is v. v. good at playing preternaturally beautiful young ladies with severe mental problems that everyone is in love with. SO KATNISS SHE IS!
I have the dvds, Sarah! I’ll loan ‘em to you.
Today is August 1, and you know what that means: Mockingjay comes out this month! Hells yeah!!
So I realize that I am roughly ten years late to this whole phenomenon but based largely upon the glowing recommendations here, I finally picked up Hunger Games on Sunday night AND HAVE BEEN ON A READING SPREE EVER SINCE. I finished Catching Fire at roughly 1:30 am last night and was so jacked up on adrenaline I didn’t go to sleep for another hour and a half. Are these books laced with crack? Because I feel like I might be on crack. Is that a thing? Could that even happen? Because it feels like crack.
I am now desperately glad that I waited this long to read them because now I only have to wait something like 18 days for Mockingjay, and even THAT is seeming like an interminable distance.
WHAT IS WITH ALL THE PREDICTIONS OF MY GALE DYING?! Because for shizz, y’all, I will NOT BE ABLE TO LEAVE MY HOUSE EVER AGAIN FOR THE GRIEF.
amanda, you are SO LUCKY you only have to wait a total of 18 days for mockingjay. like, i kind of hate you right now. but that could be the crack talking.
Haha, I understand the sentiment. But really, they are actually crack, right? I’d like to re-read once more before Mockingjay comes out but I’m concerned – I will need to sleep at least a *little* during the month of August. My jitters are not subsiding.
OMMGGG!!!! I FOUND THIS SONG THAT IS PERFECT FPR PEETA!!!! please listen to it its AWESOME!!! its called :lets not play pretend…..you need to listen to tis song just youtube and type in lets mot play pretend its te first one wit a drawin of peeta and katniss on it!!
>TEAM PEETA!!<
*sorry about the spelling!! my keyboard is going crazy;)
OMG, jenny was the most spot on in her predictions although everyone had at least one thing right..aaaahhh I nearly broke down crying again when I read question 2!! Did you read it yet?? I’ve only just put it down…tears and blood and more tears waahhh