This ebook included three additional essays but none of the original essays in the book. They were pretty interesting. The Mockingjay essay helped me better understand why I dislike that book so much.

I'm not really finding what I'm looking for in these supplemental books though. I guess I really want an authorized encyclopedia of what Panem is like, more information about the other districts and the Dark Days... I guess I'll just have to fill in the holes for myself.

One of my favorite sub-genres is the pop culture essay collection, especially collections about favorite book series and television shows. I recently bought a copy of one of my favorites, Mapping the World of Harry Potter, and realized that it was actually produced by an imprint that specializes in just these sorts of things, called Smart Pop books, a division of small publisher BenBella Books. Out of curiosity, I went to their site...and ended up adding at least 10 books to my TBR. But I also stopped in at my local used bookstore- and found some of them for fifty cents apiece (free, if you take into account I used store credit instead of cash)! Of course, they aren't the only publisher in the genre-- Open Court also does those popular titles that incorporate philosophy into pop culture (The Simpsons and Philosophy, Harry Potter and Philosophy, etc) which I've enjoyed immensely and have started collecting. And I'm sure I've grabbed some others from other publishers I haven't bothered to research.

This Fab Finds Friday is a bit different, in that I'm combining things I found at the used bookstore this week with books I've rediscovered on my own shelves.

I'm hoping to get my hands on ones about Supernatural and Narnia soon, as well as Batman.

If anyone has some good suggestions for ones I should look out for, please let me know!

Kai (the hero) did get on my nerves but love everything in the end!

 'Omega City' by Diana Peterfreund quickly became one of my new favorite adventure books! Plus, it's comparison to one of my all time favorite movies 'The Goonies' didn't hurt either!

 Unlike lost pirate treasure, this treasure comes from a scientist who worked at the height of the Cold War- Dr. Underberg, whose worked was the better man. Until one day his simply vanish or died leaving behind alot of unanswered questions.

 Gillian Seagret's father career has recently been ruined after his Dr.Underberg's book has been debunked as completely false. Gillian knows in her heart that her father and Dr.Underberg words ring true. When she and her friends stumble upon Underberg's last decoded page, this set off a string of events that lead to a under ground city - Omega City.

 I loved pretty much everything about this book, from the characters, the setting and the mystery surrounding Underberg's last works & of course the hidden Omega City. The action of the book had me almost speed reading like I couldn't keep up with the words on the pages.

  Gillian, her brother Eric and friends were a nice range of characters. No one was perfect and made plenty of mistakes along the way, but each used their heads and helped the other out as the slowly travel the hidden city. Gillian, I felt, was the only character that felt had more dimensional. The rest tended to only have a role to play and their true self peeking out from time to time. This in itself wasn't to bad, but I would have liked to had something a little more solid now, that hopefully will be built up in later books.

   The mystery was very well done, tossing a few modern conspiracy theories, old Cold War technology and some bad guys who want all the goodies they can lay their hands on. I really enjoyed this aspect of the book. With it showing not so much crazy theories but the birth of technology and how it affects us then and today. Also how old technology maybe be something new today.

  Toss in some underwater adventure, a chase through a underground hidden city and how teamwork and friendship can get you outta some tricky spots. This was a real joy to read for any age. Looking forward to more of this series..

Then again "Goonies Never Say Die!"

alot of fun!!