Suzanne Collins

Donna Fuller, Betty Garrett, Sally Klein, Laurie OBrien, Jennifer Parsons,Teri Ralston and she were awarded the 1983 Drama Logue Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance for "Quilters" at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

Her daughter Mya was born in May 2004.

Has two children with her husband - a son and a daughter (b.1999).

You love me. Real or not real?"I tell him, "Real.

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.

And then he gives me a smile that just seems so genuinely sweet with just the right touch of shyness that unexpected warmth rushes through me.

We could do it, you know. ""What?""Leave the district. Run off. Live in the woods. You and I, we could make it.

I just. . . I just miss him. And I hate being so alone.

He’s dozed off again, but I kiss him awake, which seems to startle him. Then he smiles as if he’d be happy to lie there gazing at me forever.

An ability to look into the confusing mess of life and see things for what they are.

Finnik?” I say. “Maybe some pants?”
He looks down at his legs as if noticing them for the first time. Then he whips of his hospital gown, leaving him in just is underwear. “Why? Do you find this”-he strikes a ridiculously proactive pose-“distracting?”
I can’t help laughing because it’s funny, and it’s extra funny because Boggs looks so uncomfortable, and I’m happy because Finnik actually sounds like the guy I met at the Quarter Quell. 
“I’m only human, Odair. ” I get in before the elevator doors close. “Sorry,” I say to Boggs. 
“Don’t be. I thought you… handled that well,” He says. “Better than my having to arrest him, anyway. ”

Fulvia Cardew hustles over an makes a sound of frustration when she sees my clean face. “All that hard work, down the drain. I’m not blaming you, Katniss. It’s just that very few people are born with camera-ready faces. Like him. ” She snags Gale, who’s in a conversation with Plutarch, and spins him towards us. “Isn’t he handsome?”
Gale does look stricking in the uniform, I guess. But the question just embarrasses us both Given our history. I’m trying to think of a witty comeback when Boggs says brusquely, “Well don’t expect us to be too impressed. We just saw Finnick Odair in his underwear.

Not like this. He wanted it to be real.

Katniss: I’m coming back into focus when Caesar asks him if he has a girlfriend back home. Peeta: (Gives an unconvincing shake of head. )Caesar: Handsome lad like you. There must be some special girl. Come on, what’s her name?Peeta: Well, there is this one girl. I’ve had a crush on her ever since I can remember. But I’m pretty sure she didn’t know I was alive until the reaping. Caesar: She have another fellow?Peeta: I don’t know, but a lot of boys like her. Caesar: So, here’s what you do. You win, you go home. She can’t turn you down, eh?Peeta: I don’t think it’s going to work out. Winning… won’t help in my case. Caesar: Why ever not?Peeta: Because… because… she came here with me. Caesar: Oh, that is a piece of bad luck. Peeta: It’s not good. Caesar: Well, I don’t think any of us can blame you. It’d be hard not to fall for that young lady. She didn’t know?Peeta: Not until now.

Because. . . because. . . she came here with me.

Knowing it and seeing it are two different things.

Aim higher in case you fall short.

You could do a lot worse.

You here to finish me off, Sweetheart?,Yes, frosting. The final defense of the dying.

Technically, I am unarmed. But no one should ever underestimate the harm that fingernails can do. Especially if the target is unprepared.

No. Now, shut up and eat your pears.

Look, if you wanted to be babied you should have asked Peeta.

A need for revenge can burn long and hot. Especially if every glance in a mirror reinforces it.

I no longer feel allegiance to these monsters called human beings, despise being one myself. I think that Peeta was onto something about us destroying one another and letting some decent species take over. Because something is significantly wrong with a creature that sacrifices its children’s lives to settle its differences. You can spin it any way you like. Snow thought the Hunger Games were an efficient means of control. Coin thought the parachutes would expedite the war. But in the end, who does it benefit? No one. The truth is, it benefits no one to live in a world where these things happen.

But some secrets are too delicious not to share.

Star-crossed lovers desperate to get home together. Two hearts beating as one. Romance.

To this day, I can never shake the connection between this boy, Peeta Mellark, and the bread that gave me hope, and the dandelion that reminded me that I was not doomed.

Even if times got bad, he would never again deny himself the possibility that the future might be happy even if the present was painful. He would allow himself dreams.

People of Panem, we fight, we dare, we end our hunger for justice!” There‘s dead silence on the set. It goes on. And on. Finally, the intercom crackles and Haymitch‘s acerbic laugh fills the studio. He contains himself just long enough to say, “And that, my friends, is how a revolution dies.

If Under fell, if Over leaped,If death was life and Death life reaped,Something rises from the gloom,To make the Underland a tombHear it scratching down below,Rat of long forgotten snow,Evil cloaked in coat of White,Will the Warrior drain your light?What could turn the Warrior week?What do burning Gnawers seek?Just a barely speaking pup That holds the Land of Under upDie the baby, die his heartDie his most essential partDie the peace that rules the hour,Gnawers have their key to power,Embrace the probability of your imminent death. . . . and know there is nothing i can do to save you.

For there to be betrayal, there would have to have been trust first.

hey. I just wanted to make sure you got home," I say. "Katniss, I live three houses away from you," he says.

Why. . . do you find this. . . distracting?,Lunch makes me feel a bit better.

And if we burn, you burn with us.

Remember that even in war there is a time for restraint. A time to hold back your sword.

They can fatten me up. They can give me a full body polish, dress me up, and make me beautiful again. They can design dream weapons that come to life in my hands, but they will never again brainwash me into the necessity of using them. I no longer feel allegiance to these monsters called human beings, despite being one myself.

How much energy they put into harming each other. How little into saving.

Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true. . .

The only thing worse than fighting a giant scorpion was fighting a giant scorpion who was trying to protect her young.

It’s a saying from thousands of years ago, written in a language called Latin about a place called Rome,” he explains. “Panem et Circenses translates into ‘Bread and Circuses. ’ The writer was saying that in return for full bellies and entertainment, his people had given up their political responsibilities and therefore their power.

As coal pressured into pearls by our weighty existence. Beauty that arose out of pain.

I no longer feel any allegiance to these monsters called human beings, despise being one myself.

Because when he sings. . . even the birds stop to listen.

In our world, I rank music somewhere between hair ribbons and rainbows in terms of usefulness.

His dad said even the cavemen had geniuses among them. Somebody had thought up the wheel.

Beware, Underlanders, time hangs by a thread. The hunters are hunted, white water runs red. The Gnawers will strike to extinguish the rest. The hope of the hopeless resides in a quest. An Overland warrior, a son of the sun,May bring us back light, he may bring us back none. But gather your neighbors and follow his callOr rats will most surely devour us all. Two over, two under, of royal descent,Two flyers, two crawlers, two spinners assent. One gnawer beside and one lost up ahead. And eight will be left when we count up the dead. The last who will die must decide where he stands. The fate of the eight is contained in his hands. So bid him take care, bid him look where he leaps,As life may be death and death life again reaps.

And he would put his arms around her and hold her, but he had no idea what to tell her. In his mind, Gregor knew how to kill things, not bring them back ti life.

What will break me into a million pieces so that I am beyond repair, beyond usefulness?,I thought he wanted it, anyway," I say. "Not like this," Haymitch says. "He wanted it to be real.

Courage only counts when you can count.

They play in the Meadow. The dancing girl with the dark hair and blue eyes. The boy with blond curls and gray eyes, struggling to keep up with her on his chubby toddler legs. It took five, ten, fifteen years for me to agree. But Peeta wanted them so badly. When I first felt her stirring inside of me, I was consumed with a terror that felt as old as life itself. Only the joy of holding her in my arms could tame it.

Glimmer, I hear someone call her - ugh, the names the people in District 1 give their children are so ridiculous . . .

Dead, but not allowed to die. Alive, but as good as dead.

Have I gone mad like Anne and no one has the heart to tell me? I wish someone would tell me, I feel crazy enough though.

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. One good jolt … and I could shatter into strange, razor-sharp shards.

the evil thing is inside, not out.

Since I’ve been home I’ve been trying hard to mend my relationship with my mother. Asking her to do things for me instead of brushing aside any offer of help, as I did for years out of anger. Letting her handle all the money I won. Returning her hugs instead of tolerating them. My time in the arena made me realize how I needed to stop punishing her for something she couldn’t help, specifically the crushing depression she fell into after my father’s death. Because sometimes things happen to people and they’re not equipped to deal with them.

The numbness of his loss had passed, and the pain would hit me out of nowhere, doubling me over, racking my body with sobs. Where are you? I would cry out in my mind. Where have you gone? Of course, there was never any answer.

The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again. And only Peeta can give me that.

Sorry excuses for hunters and friends. Both of us.

But for better or worse, I am not motivated by kindness.

As long as you can find yourself, you’ll never starve.

Peeta actually is charming and then utterly winning as the boy in love. And there I am, blushing and confused, made beautiful by Cinna’s hands, desirable by Peeta’s confession, tragic by circumstance, and by all accounts, unforgettable.

No, when the time comes, I’m sure I’ll kill just like everybody else. I can’t go down without a fight. Only I keep wishing I could think of a way to…to show the Capitol they don’t own me.

I think. . . . you still have no idea. The effect you can have.

That should have been my strategy! By the time I’ve worked through the emotions of surprise, admiration, anger, jealousy, and frustration, I’m watching that reddish mane of hair disappear into the trees well out of shooting range.

Oh, no. It costs a lot more than your life. To murder innocent people?" says Peeta. "It costs everything you are.

I find myself focusing up at the sky — the only roof left — because too many memories are drowning me.

I act delighted, but I have zero interest in these Capitol people. They are only distractions from the food.

We are what no one wants to miss at the party. I act delighted, but I have zero interest in these Capitol people. They are only distractions from the food.

To the everlasting credit of the people of District 12, not one person claps. Not even the ones holding betting slips, the ones who are usually beyond caring. Possibly because they know me from the Hob, or knew my father, or have encountered Prim, who no one could help loving. So instead of acknowledging applause, I stand there unmoving while they take part in the boldest form of dissent they can manage. Silence. Which says we do not agree. We do not condone. All of this is wrong.

the boldest form of dissent they can manage. Silence. Which says we do not agree. We do not condone. All of this is wrong.

I look coolly in to the blue eyes of the person who is now my greatest opponent, the person who would keep me alive at his own expense. And I promise myself I will defeat his plan.

I miss him so badly it hurts.

And it’s all my fault, Gale. Because of what I did in the arena. If I had just killed myself with those berries, none of this would’ve happened. Peeta could have come home and lived, and everyone else would have been safe, too. ”“Safe to do what?” he says in a gentler tone. “Starve? Work like slaves? Send their kids to the reaping? You haven’t hurt people – you’ve given them an opportunity. They just have to be brave enough to take it.

He could have had his choice of any woman in the district. And he chose solitude. Not solitude – that sounds too peaceful. More like solitary confinement.

But because two can play at this game, I stand on tiptoe and kiss his cheek. Right on his bruise.

I had to do that. At least once.

Impulsively, I lean forward and kiss him, stopping his word. This is probably overdue anyway since he’s right, we are supposed to be madly in love.

It’s the first time I’ve ever kissed a boy, which should make some sort of impression I guess, but all I can register is how unnaturally hot his lips are from the fever.

I can’t go down without a fight. Only I keep wishing I could think of a way to… to show the Capitol they don’t own me. That I’m more than just a piece in their Games.

He wanted to stay there forever, letting her soothe him, pretending he was just a kid and his mom could make everything okay.

It costs a lot more than your life. To murder innocent people? It costs everything you are.

His dad said if you did something wrong to someone in public, you ought to admit it in public, too.

Oh, and I suppose the apples ate the cheese.

And that, my friends, is how a revolution dies. -Haymitch Abernathy,At once, it’s clear I cannot gush. We try me playing cocky, but I just don’t have the arrogance. Apparently, I’m too “vulnerable” for ferocity. I’m not witty. Funny. Sexy. Or mysterious By the end of the session, I am no one at all.

I pound on the glass, screaming my head off. Everyone ignores me except for some Capitol attendant who appears behind me and offers me a beverage.

His face and arms are so artfully disguised as to be invisible. I kneel beside him. “I guess all those hours decorating cakes paid off. ” Peeta smiles. “Yes, frosting. The final defense of the dying.

Because something is significantly wrong with a creature that sacrifices its children’s lives to settle its differences.

I noticed the plants growing around me. Tall with leaves like arrowheads. Blossoms with three white petals. I knelt down in the water, my fingers digging into the soft mud, and I pulled up handfuls of the roots. Small, bluish tubers that don’t look like much but boiled or baked are as good as any potato. “Katniss,” I said aloud. It’s the plant I was named for. And I heard my father’s voice joking, “As long as you can find yourself, you’ll never starve.

How about you, Mockingjay? You feel totally safe?” “Oh, yeah. Right up until I got shot,” I say.

So, here’s what you do. You win, you go home. She can’t turn you down then, eh?” says Caesar encouragingly. “I don’t think it’s going to work out. Winning…won’t help in my case,” says Peeta. “Why ever not?” says Caesar, mystified. Peeta blushes beet red and stammers out. “Because…because…she came here with me.

Deep in the meadow, hidden far away A cloak of leaves, a moonbeam ray Forget your woes and let your troubles lay,We hand the meat over to Greasy Sae in the kitchen. She likes District 13 well enough, even though she thinks the cooks are somewhat lacking in imagination. But a woman who came up with a palatable wild dog and rhubarb stew is bound to feel as if her hands are tied here.

I stand there unmoving while they take part in the boldest form of dissent they can manage. Silence.

I go back to my room and lie under the covers, trying not to think of Gale and thinking of nothing else.

Entrails. No hissing. This is the closest we will ever come to love.

Everything is about them, not the dying boys and girls in the arena.

District 12: Where you can starve to death in safety.

But a shift has occurred since I stepped up to take Prim’s place, and now it seems I have become someone precious. At first one, then another, then almost every member of the crowd touches the three middle fingers of their left hand to their lips and holds it out to me. It is an old and rarely used gesture of our district, occasionally seen at funerals. It means thanks, it means admiration, it means good-bye to someone you love.

My little sister, Prim, curled up on her side, cocooned in my mother’s body, their cheeks pressed together. In sleep, my mother looks younger, still worn but not so beaten-down. Prim’s face is as fresh as a raindrop, as lovely as the primrose for which she was named. My mother was very beautiful once, too. Or so they tell me.

So what should we do with our last few days?”“I just want to spend every possible minute of the rest of my life with you,” Peete replies. “Come on, then,” I say, pulling him into my room. It feels like a luxury, sleeping with Peeta again. I didn’t realize until now how starved I’ve been for human closeness. For the feel of him beside me in the darkness.

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.

Yeah, about that,” says Peeta, entwining his fingers in mine. “Don’t try something like that again. ” “Or what?” I ask. “Or or . . . ” He can’t think of anything good. “Just give me a minute.

Let me go!” I snarl at him, trying to wrest my arm from his grasp. “I can’t,” he says.

You call that a kiss?,I said that i would try to win, but to win for her.

All right, so give me some idea of what you can do," says Haymitch. I can’t do anything," says Peeta, "unless you count baking bread. "Sorry, I don’t. Katniss. I already know you’re handy with a knife,” says Haymitch. Not really. But I can hunt,” I say. “With a bow and arrow. ”And you’re good?” asks Haymitch. I have to think about it. I’ve been putting food on the table for four years. That’s no small task. I’m not as good as my father was, but he’d had more practice. I’ve better aim than Gale, but I’ve had more practice. He’s a genius with traps and snares. “I’m all right,” I say.

Whenever I write a story, I hope it appeals to both boys and girls.

I think we put our children at an enormous disadvantage by not educating them in war, by not letting them understand about it at an early age.

Telling a story in a futuristic world gives you this freedom to explore things that bother you in contemporary times.

If I took the 40 years of my dad talking to me about war and battles and taking me to battlefields and distilled it down into one question, it would probably be the idea of the necessary or unnecessary war. .