As promised, here is a rundown of our fabulous Mockingjay party. The most interesting part of the midnight sale was the sheer number of people who came to the party who hadn’t reserved a book. Almost 90% of our sales were to folks who hadn’t special ordered the book and this added to the air of excitement.

We had about 40 kids come to the store around 11pm when the festivities started.

I’ll be the first to admit, our party was pretty low-key, as midnight releases go. We created a fairly comprehensive quiz that each “tribute” was given when they came in. At midnight, we sold the book. I must say, after fourteen years of bookselling, I have yet to tire seeing a child hug a book, and there was a lot of hugging going on.
So, first the kids came in and some were in costume and that made it really fun. There weren’t many kids in costume, but these teens didn’t care. They embraced the spirit of the book and had a great time. Kids did the quiz and then they got prizes based on the number of correct answers they got. Everyone got a prize and all attendees got mini-brownie bites as a representation of what they might have gotten in the arena.

They were just thrilled to be getting the book  they’ve waited a year for. One really great thing to come from the event was all the kids, yes all of them, want to come back in six weeks for an in-depth book discussion about Mockingjay and the series as a whole. I love that this series has provoked such deep thought with the kids, and I can’t wait for the book group meeting.
So, now we read and enjoy the end of another great series. Booksellers, how was your Mockingjay release?