Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins is writing a new book for kids. She is teaming up with James Proimos, picture-book author-artist,  to create “Year of the Jungle,” an autobiographical picture book for ages 4 and up, based on the year Collins’ father — Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Collins, who served in Vietnam.

According to Scholastic, “Year of the Jungle” tells a story of when young Suzy’s father leaves for Vietnam, and she struggles to deal with his absence. She wonders about his safety and is anxious for his return. As time goes by, the postcards she receives from him seem more distant, and when he returns, Suzy must learn that even though war has changed him, he still loves her just the same.

The book is set to be published September 10!

via AirForcetimes.com

Rosemary Stimola, the literary agent of Suzanne Collins was at the first-ever  New York University Media Talk event which focused on  YA literature.

She talked about The Hunger Games and how she became Suzanne ‘s agent.

Stimola admitted that, if any other author had approached her with an idea for a book in which a group of children in a dystopian society battle to the death, she “might have hesitated.” But having worked with Collins on her middle-grade series, The Underland Chronicles, Stimola already knew of the “wealth of info” that Collins typically brings to a project, along with her ability to create complex worlds and characters that function beyond dichotomies of black and white or good and evil. Among the earliest concerns that she and Collins discussed was how to keep Katniss sympathetic in spite of “the harshness and deprivation she has endured.” Stimola also revealed that The Hunger Games was sold to Scholastic based on a “four-page proposal” from Collins.

She has also revealed that Suzanne wanted to finish Mockingjay, the final book in the series, before any film developments began so the book would not be colored by outside influences.

source: Publisher Weekly

Thanks to stay-together-always for uploading this cute photo of The Hunger Games series author with a Mockingjay -designed cake.  *We are not sure when and where the photo was taken.

The odds are ever in Collins’s favor, with royalties from the blockbuster “Hunger Games” movie swelling her earnings and two more films still in the pipeline.

*It’s actually three more films because the last book, Mockingjay will be split into into movies. =)

Happy birthday to the brilliant author of The Hunger Games Trilogy and The Underland Chronicles! Suzanne Collins was born on August 10, 1962 in Hartford, Connecticut.

We can’t thank you enough for creating the series that changed our lives!

- from the admins of HungerGamesTrilogy.net