I am an unapologetic, crazy fan-girl, screaming school-girl lover of The Hunger Games trilogy.

And GUESS WHAT.

Scholastic has just announced the cover for the third and final installment of The Hunger Games trilogy. I am chewing on my arm in anticipation! It is BEEYOOTEEFUL. Check it out:

Don’t you love it?? Doesn’t it make you wonder how Suzanne Collins will wrap things up? *coughTeamGalecough*

Mockingjay will be released August 24, 2010. I might have to take that day off of work.

I don’t normally do a separate post to announce winners, but I was pretty excited about both the Pope Joan  and the Catching Fire  contests. So here we are.

On a random note, why do I insist on pounding a key on my keyboard multiple times when I know the key won’t work like I want?

Okay, back to the giveaway winners.

For Pope Joan, I had two copies to give away. The winnners are:

Debbie from Suburban Sanity (who has a fantastic header, by the way…not that I’m biased or anything)

and

bridget3420

Don’t forget, you need to buy the book and mail the author your receipt to be entered into the red carpet drawing! Why do you think I bought an extra copy to give away?

For the Catching Fire  giveaway, I’m especially excited. In fact, I’ve been able to find a SECOND copy of Catching Fire  to give away because I pretty much want everyone to READ THIS BOOK NOW. If I could be a bully, I wouldn’t hesitate to bully people into reading books. Kidding! Bullying isn’t funny. Even when it’s about books.

Okay, so the winners are…

Wendy Cleveland

and

Chloe

Congratulations everyone! I am/will be emailing everyone for their mailing address.

I loved The Hunger Games. No, make that I LOVED The Hunger Games. I loved it so much that I told everyone I knew about it. I loved it so much that I was bummed when Scholastic had a contest where you could write an essay about something (I don’t remember what, exactly, you had to write about, and the contest is gone from the site) and if you were picked, you’d get to go see Suzanne Collins. But you had to be between the ages of 12 and 17 (I think that was the age range), and, well, let’s just say I’m at least of drinking age.

Then when I heard there would be ADVANCE COPIES of Catching Fire, the sequel to The Hunger Games, at BEA in New York, I cried because I couldn’t go to New York. I thought maybe I should write a post about how I want to have Suzanne Collins’ babies, because then maybe she would scrounge up a copy for me. But then I realized that I’m no one in a sea of fans, and besides, she probably doesn’t need my womb for her babies. And it’s kind of creepy. But I’m willing to risk creepy to snag a copy of Catching Fire.

I DID get to go to BEA and I DID get a copy of Catching Fire and I read it in almost one sitting (I would have read it in one sitting but my plane ride wasn’t long enough). I was worried that the sequel wouldn’t be as good as the first book. I was worried that I had built up the potential of the sequel so much in my head that there was no way the author could deliver what I was expecting.

I was wrong.

Catching Fire was fantastic. I loved it! Suzanne Collins does a great job of developing Katniss’ character and keeping up the tension in the triangle with Peeta and Gale. I’m not going to tell you any more than that after the book is released on September 1, 2009.

But for right now, I’m giving away a copy of both The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. This way, if you haven’t read The Hunger Games you can still enter the contest and you won’t have to wait until September 1st for book two. And if you have read The Hunger Games, you can still enter the contest.

Everyone has a level playing field for this contest: Leave a comment on this post answering this question: What would you give up to read Catching Fire? If you haven’t read The Hunger Games yet, then tell me if you’ve ever been at a midnight release party for a book. (I ask because I think I might do that for Catching Fire.)

This contest will be open through July 31st and is open internationally.