What is Mockingjay?

Every now and then a buzzword or buzz-term comes along, and you have no idea what it means, or why people are saying it, you just know that everyone's going to be saying it, or is saying it, and you have no idea what it means until someone sighs, shakes their head, and explains something to you that really isn't worth explaining (but merits an explanation nonetheless). Like "Silly-Bandz"

Well, here's your explanation for "Mockingjay."

According to the New York Times, this is what a Mockingjay is:

• It's a book -- or a series of books, really -- that you're about to see a bunch of kids carrying around everywhere, like Twilight and Harry Potter before it. Mockingjay is the third in the series of books called "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins.
• The trilogy is about a bunch of kids who have to fight each other to the death in an arena. Sound familiar? "Ms. Collins has described the story as rooted in the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur."
• It's already the number one book on Amazon.com, and it comes out tonight.
• It's the publishing industry's big home for what's otherwise been a slow summer for them.
• If it sounds familiar, try Lord of the Flies, The Chocolate War, or Stephen King's pseudonymous written book The Long Walk, or any other number of books about dystopian futures in which kids have to kill each other.
• It's gonna make a bunch of money, though.

And now you know!

[fkamer@villagevoice.com]