Each season we announce our new titles individually, each in their own post, to give you a little extra background behind the book. If you’ve missed any, you can check them all out here. All of Fall 2012′s intro posts are here.

For The Panem Companion, our latest companion book, on Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy (from Mellark Bakery to Mockingjays), we’ve asked the book’s author, V. Arrow, to write the intro post. Read her thoughts on writing The Panem Companion below! And don’t forget, you can sign up on the book page to get a free excerpt.

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If I had known that staying up until 3 a.m. with a carton of ice cream to talk to my …

» Continue Reading “Return to Panem with author V. Arrow”

Join V. Arrow as she travels the 13 districts for The Panem Companion Victory Tour!

We didn’t have to fight to the death to publish The Panem Companion, but we still think its impending December 4 release is something to celebrate.

Over the course of the next 13 days—from November 26 to December 12—author V. Arrow will be traveling to 13 “districts” (which some of you may know better as top-notch Hunger Games fansites and book blogs) to share the excitement. Each district will be giving away a copy of The Panem Companion, and will feature an exclusive excerpt from the book! Some of them will also be interviewing V., and hosting other fun activities.

Luckily, following us on the tour doesn’t …

» Continue Reading “The Panem Companion Victory Tour”

We don’t know if they have a winter gift-giving occasion in Panem.

But just in case, we’ve put together a (less deadly) cornucopia of gifts for the Hunger Games fans in your life—all of which can be obtained from the safety of your own home. Because let’s face it—the closer we get to Christmas, the more the mall starts looking like a Hunger Games arena.

1. The Panem Companion. Shameless self-promotion: our brand new Hunger Games companion, written by V. Arrow (the creator of this super-cool map of Panem), comes out December 4! The grad-school class of Hunger Games books, it answers the hardcore fan’s most burning questions about Panem.
2. Rue’s Song Print. For the musical Hunger Games fan, this print features the

…

» Continue Reading “2012 Holiday Gift Guide: Hunger Games”

V. Arrow’s unofficial map of Panem puts Philadelphia in District 13 . . . which makes it a not inappropriate spot to hold some Hunger Games presentations, wouldn’t you say?

On May 17, The Center for Media and Destiny and The Center of Media and Information Literacy are co-sponsoring Hunger Games symposium “Are the Odds in Our Favor?: The Hunger Games on Fame, Fashion, and the Fate of Humanity.” The symposium will be held on the campus of Temple University, and admission is free. Get all the details here.

I’ll be there, giving a talk on the differences between the book and film, the film advertising, and the affect of both on where we readers/viewers stand in relationship to the Games, …

» Continue Reading “Upcoming Hunger Games Symposium in Philadelphia”

It’s my favorite time of year again: time to announce a new season of Smart Pop titles.

I’ve included the book-specific sign-up form for each title below, so if any of these pique your interest and you want to get a head’s up when we post advance excerpts or do giveaways (along with, of course, a reminder email on pub date!), just enter your email and hit the submit button.

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First up, in December 2012, is The Panem Companion:

The Panem Companion is a new unofficial Hunger Games guide that delves into Panem itself: how it could have come to be; it’s culture, socioeconomics, and ideas of race, ethnicity, and gender; and the effects on the characters we know and love. Plus, it …

» Continue Reading “Announcing the Smart Pop Fall 2012 season”

A few weeks ago, we asked you all to help us out by answering some Hunger Games poll questions. More than 200 of you were kind enough to comply (many of you without even entering to win one of the books we were offering as thanks)!

As I mentioned then, the reason for those poll questions was a presentation I was putting together on the Hunger Games for One Book Sarasota. And I promised I’d share that presentation when I returned.

So with the help of Keynote, Quicktime, and YouTube—and with thanks to the fantastic folks in the Sarasota County libraries system and at Bookstore1Sarasota, as well as the Hunger Games fansites that kindly retweeted the poll link (which you’ll see on …

» Continue Reading “Our Hunger Games Talk for One Book Sarasota”

Why are we putting out a Movie Edition of The Girl Who Was on Fire?

Well, book publishers love new editions. (It gives bookstores a reason to take a fresh look at an old book.) And who am I to resist an excuse to jump back into the Hunger Games series and have a few new writers write a few more great essays?

For our new edition, we drafted Brent Hartinger, Jackson Pearce, and Diana Peterfreund to write essays for us: on mixed opinions of Mockingjay; why we shouldn’t forget about Gale, just because he wasn’t the one Katniss picked; and the game theory of the Games, respectively.  I think they all make incredible additions to the original edition’s fantastic line-up …

» Continue Reading “The Girl Who Was on Fire – Movie Edition”

December always sneaks up on me: suddenly, I’m inundated with Black Friday sales emails, and I realize I have a full list of Hanukah and Christmas gifts to shop for and not a lot of time to do it in.

In case you’re in the same boat: here’s our top 5 best gift bets from our last 12 months of new releases. We’ve also added a few related non-book gift options to round out each suggestion—just in case you really like the person (or your Secret Santa lower limit is higher than a list price of $16.95).

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For the Mad Men fan, the foodie, or the history buff:

The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook

You’re especially in luck if your giftee is all three. Every …

» Continue Reading “The Smart Pop gift guide: books and more”

. . . we’d like to announce—very, very early—the future publication of The Panem Companion: An Unofficial Guide to Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games, From Mellark Bakery to Mockingjays.

The Panem Companion, to be released December 2012, is written by V. Arrow, better known to a lot of Hunger Games fandom as aimmyarrowshigh, the creator of this brilliant unofficial map of Panem—which was my first introduction to her, actually, long before there was any talk of books. (And I have to give a quick shoutout here to the always fantastic Adam and Savanna at Hunger Games Fireside Chat, for introducing us to V. a few months back!)

We’re so excited about this book, from the updated (and gorgeously illustrated) version of that original …

» Continue Reading “Because there can never be enough Hunger Games books in the world . . .”

If you didn’t win a copy of The Girl Who Was on Fire during the 13 District reaping on the Smart Pop blog, then don’t miss your chance to grab one of two copies we’re giving away on Goodreads.com right now! Just click here, scroll down, and click on the “enter to win” button before May 24 and you could be snuggling up with your very own copy of The Girl Who Was on Fire.

May the odds ever be in your favor!…

» Continue Reading “Win The Girl Who Was on Fire on Goodreads.com”