hunger games 3

Is Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games trilogy the best YA book series since Harry Potter? It's certainly the one I've gotten the most excited about. (Don't know why The Hunger Games is awesome? Read this.) And Scholastic has just released the title and cover art for the eagerly awaited third and final book:

I thought The Victors was a pretty great title for the final book, but apparently that was a rumor. The mockingjay, as fans of the books know, is a symbol of rebellion and of things being out of the dictatorial Capitol's control, despite its superior technology. This is most definitely the situation at the end of Catching Fire, the second book in the trilogy.

Catching Fire ended on a jaw-dropper of a cliffhanger. Collins is setting us up for a grand slam of a third act here, and she had better deliver. What Panem needs is a revolution, and I so so so hope that's what's coming in the last book. The free-flying bird and shattered rings on the book's cover look like good signs to me.

Mockingjay comes out August 24, 2010. Beyond the obvious (like a resolution of the romantic storyline) here are my predictions for what has to be paid off in the final book.

1. We'll see District 13 and it will not have those rumored nuclear weapons. That would be way too easy a fix. I'd like to think Collins knows better than that.

2. We'll see other districts in more detail--I think District 4, Finnick's home, is a good bet.

3. We won't be going back into any arenas; that's been played out. The "games" of the last book will take place entirely in the real world and the fight will be for the future of Panem.

4. And Katniss, who hates being underground, will have to sneak through that train tunnel that runs under the Rockies to get into the Capitol. Preferably to rescue Peeta.