The One that Got Away

A few years ago, I was traversing the floor of Book Expo America when I came upon the Scholastic booth where a very large line had formed. Since the final Harry Potter had just been released the year before, I curiously asked a woman in line for what she was queuing. "The next HUNGER GAMES," she replied, happily. "Oh," I said with a little mental shrug and wound my way around the booth and past the seventy-plus middle-aged librarians excitingly chattering in line. About ten minutes later, I met up with my friend, Edie, who is an editor at Penguin. "Do you know what HUNGER GAMES is?" She froze like a deer in headlights right in the middle of the BEA floor (which one should never do...) "Scholastic has THE HUNGER GAMES?!" At which point, we sprinted back to the Scholastic booth. After Edie updated me on the emerging phenom, I quickly called my boss and asked her to check StudioSystem to see if THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins had been optioned because if it hadn't, I was willing to sell a kidney, a couple of eggs, and the lobe of my liver to raise the money for the film rights on the planned three books. Even though I hadn't read the first book and was holding the pre-published second book in my hand, it had obviously struck a nerve within the literary community. Unfortunately, Lionsgate had scooped it up a scant two months earlier. I read the first and second book back-to-back and then waited like a coke addict for pay day until the third book was published. Everyone I've given the trilogy to since has been desperately waiting for the movie along with me. This morning, the trailer was revealed. We may never get Wonder Woman, but we can at least have Katniss Everdeen.