Hunger Games sequel coming at us a little faster than expected.

I got an e-mail from Scholastic on Friday, letting me know that they've bumped up the release date for Catching Fire, the sequel to Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games. It's now coming out on September first, a week earlier than planned. (They want to catch kids before they go back to school, apparently.)

Also, Scholastic is running a promo contest for Catching Fire. To enter, fans aged 12 to 17 should write an essay describing how they would survive the fight-to-the-death games featured in the series. The winner will receive a lunch with Collins and her editors at Scholastic in New York City, and the winner plus 100 runners-up will get an advance reader copy of of Catching Fire and a mockingjay pin.