"Hunger Games" author Suzanne Collins will release her first new novel in three years, "Year of the Jungle," in 2013, Scholastic publishing said in a statement.

Since ending the wildly popular "Hunger Games" book trilogy with "Mockinjay" in 2010, Collins has become an international phenomenon. More than 50 million copies of the "Hunger Games" books are in print and the first of four planned movies has grossed more than $600 million worldwide since it was released in March.

"Year of the Jungle" plans to strike away from the dystopian future of Katniss Everdeen, but Collins's focus on how the bleak realities of war affect humanity is still present. However, the book's publisher reveals it's aimed at a much younger audience than the "Hunger Games" books, and will depict war in a way that is "sympathetic rather than scary, relatable rather than raw."

A 40-page book, illustrated by James Proimos, "Year of the Jungle" concerns a young girl named Suzy who must learn how to cope with an absentee father as he serves a tour of duty in Vietnam. Suzy "counts down the days until her father's return, and when he finally comes back, Suzy finds that the war has changed him but he loves her all the same," says Scholastic.

"For several years I had this little wicker basket next to my writing chair with the postcards my dad had sent me from Vietnam 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," Collins, 50, said in a statement released by Scholastic.

"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.'"

"How could I refuse?" Proimos said in a statement. "The idea she laid out over burritos and iced tea during our lunch was brilliant and not quite like any picture book I had ever come across. The writing is moving and personal. What Suzanne does so well here is convey complicated emotions through the eyes of a child."

Collins has mentioned wanting to write about her father in the past. In a 2010 interview with The Associated Press, she explained that her father was a trained historian who made a point of discussing war with his family.

"I believe he felt a great responsibility and urgency about educating his children about war," she said. "He would take us frequently to places like battlefields and war monuments. It would start back with whatever had precipitated the war and moved up through the battlefield you were standing in and through that and after that. It was a very comprehensive tour guide experience. So throughout our lives we basically heard about war."

"Year of the Jungle" will be released Sept. 10, 2013.