For all you Hunger Games fans, author Suzanne Collins has struck again!  This time, though, it is with a children's book called Year of the Jungle.  The story is based on the year her father served in Viet Nam.  It is illustrated by James Proimos.

I thought it would be interesting to post the news even though it is now everywhere.  But the back story is what matters here.  It is an autobiographical book of a time when ( alas, now as well) fathers and/or mothers were gone for large amounts of time serving their country.  

When young Suzy’s father leaves for Viet Nam, she struggles to deal with his absence. What is the jungle like? Will her father be safe? When will he return? The months slip by, marked by the passing of the familiar holidays and the postcards that her father sends. With each one, he feels more and more distant, and when he returns, Suzy must learn that even though war has changed him, he still loves her just the same.

In her own words:

For several years I had this little wicker basket next to my writing chair with the postcards my dad had sent me from Viet Nam and photos of that year. But I could never quite find a way into the story. It has elements that can be scary for the audience and it would be easy for the art to reinforce those. It could be really beautiful art but still be off-putting to a kid, which would defeat the point of doing the book. 

Then one day I was having lunch with Jim and telling him about the idea and he said, ‘That sounds fantastic.’ I looked at him and I had this flash of the story through his eyes, with his art. It was like being handed a key to a locked door. So, I just blurted out, ‘Do you want to do it?’ Fortunately he said yes. That afternoon, on the train ride home, the book started unfolding in my head. There’s a natural humor and sense of fun to his drawing style that makes the story approachable. As the emotional life of the main character evolves into darker places, the pictures beautifully keep pace with it, but they never lose that Proimos quality. His art made telling the story possible.”

 The Year of the Jungle is published by Scholastic and will be available in stores September, 2013.