First Take On MOCKINGJAY

Like many of you, I grabbed a copy of Mockingjay yesterday and dove right in. The third and concluding volume in the Hunger Games series is a roller-coaster, video game ride from the let’s-recap-what you-may-not-recall beginning to its shocking climax.

Of the reviews to date, I feel Jenny Brown nailed it on Shelf Awareness,

Sometimes what moves us to survive also causes our downfall, and sometimes what causes our downfall moves us to compassion. [Mockingjay] leaves us with haunting questions: Can individuals survive as a collective? Or will a united cause subsume the individual? And how much of what makes us individuals are we willing to sacrifice.

Set aside a few hours; you won’t want to put this one down.

Kudos to the cover designers. As we look at the three books on the shelf, the first one is black with the mockingjay symbol radiating dystopia; the second, burning red like “Katniss, the girl on fire” plunged back into the games, and the last, an optimistic light blue with a naturalistic mockingjay breaking free.

It looks like this one is truly a crossover title. On the listserv CCBC-Net yesterday, Alison Hndon, Youth Selection Team Leader for Brooklyn Public Library noted that about 2/3 of the 300 holds were placed by adult patrons.

By the way, that other book getting big coverage this week, Freedom by Jonathan Franzen? it’s lagging well behind Mockinjay in holds.

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