Diary of a District 13 kid?

A lot of middle-graders want to read The Hunger Games and its sequels. Nearly as many parents say the books are too violent.

In an only slightly less intense battle, droves of middle-graders have fallen in love with Diary of a Wimpy Kid and its sequels, which quite a few of their parents feel aren't thoughtful enough material.

But apparently, there's a solution.

Suzanne Collins and Jeff Kinney confirmed this week that they will co-write a Hunger Games prequel aimed at the MG crowd. Collins will be primarily responsible for outlining the plot, and Kinney will draw the story in his usual semi-graphic style. The prequel's protagonist will be Heffory Storm, a ten-year-old District 13 boy living through the Panem rebellion that results in the institution of the Hunger Games. That setting promises plenty of action, but Collins assures us that "the bulk of the violence will take place off-screen, as it were."

"Readers may see a lightly wounded stick figure or two," Kinney adds, "but there won't be any images more difficult than the armpit hair shown in Diary of a Wimpy Kid 5: The Ugly Truth."

A book with "Collins" and "Kinney" written on the spine? I'd say the odds are in its favor.