95. MOCKINGJAY

Suzanne Collins 2010

In this suspenseful, action-packed third and final book of the Hunger Game Series, Katniss Everdeen becomes the rebels' Mockingjay, the symbol of their all out war against the Capitol and President Snow. Even as this last battle nearly breaks Katniss, she becomes the instrument of change for the city of Panem and the end of the horrible hunger games.

'I stare down at my shoes, watching as a fine layer of ash settles on the worn leather. This is where the bed I shared with my sister, Prim, stood.'(opening line)

'In my head I hear President Snow's words, spoken the morning I was to begin the Victory tour. "Katniss Everdeen, the girl who was on fire, you have provided a spark that, left unattended, may grow to an inferno that destroy Panem.'(6)

'What they want is for me to truly take on the role they designed for me. The symbol of the revolution. The Mockingjay. It isn't enough, what I've done in the past, defying the Capitol in the Games, providing a rallying point. I must now become the actual leader, the face, the voice, the embodiment of the revolution.'(10)

'Positioned on my dresser, that white-as-snow rose is a personal message to me. It speaks of unfinished business. It whispers. I can find you. I can reach you. perhaps I am watching you now.'(15)

"Once you're in the arena, the rest of the world becomes very distant," he continues. "All the people and things you loved or cared about almost cease to exist. The pink sky and the monsters in the jungle and the tributes who want your blood become your final reality, the only one that ever mattered. As bad as it makes you feel, you're going to have to do some killing, because in the arena, you only get one wish. and it's very costly.'(23)

'I begin to fully understand the lengths to which people have gone to protect me. What I mean to the rebels. My on-going struggle against the Capitol, which has so often felt like a solitary journey, has not been undertaken alone. I have had thousands upon thousands of people from the districts at my side. I was their Mockingjay long before I accepted the role.'(90)

"President Snow says he's sending us a message? Well, I have one for him... Fire is catching!.. And if we burn, you burn with us!"(99)

"Ask yourself, do you really trust the people you're working with? Do you really know what's going on? And if you don't... find out."(113)

'Are you, are you
Coming to the tree
Where I told you to run, so we'd both be free.
Strange things did happen here
No stranger would it be
If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree.'(124)

'I'm not flailing now, as my muscles are rigid with the tension of holding myself together. The pain over my heart returns, and from it I imagine tiny fissures spreading out into my body. Through my torso, down my arms and legs, over my face, leaving it crisscrossed with cracks.'(154)

'That I knew that I have misjudged you. That you do love him. I'm not saying in what way. Maybe you don't know yourself. But anyone paying attention could see how much you care about him."(156)

'Katniss will pick whoever she thinks she can't survuve without.'(329)

'... collective thinking is usually short-lived. We're fickle, stupid beings with poor memories and a great gift for self-destruction.'(379)

'What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again.'(388)

'Here it's safe, here it's warm
Here the daisies guard you from every harm
Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true
Here is the place where I love you.'(390)
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First Edition, September 2010
390 pages
Book owned