LOS ANGELES – U.S. theater owners were counting on a slew of high-profile holiday films to end an erratic moviegoing year on a high note.

After a rally at the box office this summer — when ticket sales hit record levels — the U.S. exhibition industry looked as if it had reversed a slump earlier in the year.

But those hopes have been dampened by unexpectedly weak ticket sales in recent weeks from sequels “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked” and “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” as well as the holiday-themed “Arthur Christmas” and the critically acclaimed “Hugo.”

As of Monday, year-to-date box-office revenue in the U.S. and Canada dropped 4 percent to $10 billion compared with a year earlier, while the number of tickets sold was off 4 percent, according to Hollywood.com.

Industry observers cite various reasons for 2011’s decline in admissions, from waning consumer interest in 3-D movies to higher ticket prices. Average ticket prices in the U.S. reached a record $8.06 in the second quarter of the year, according to the National Association of Theatre Owners.

Industry executives disagree that higher ticket prices are a factor in lower admissions. Instead, they point to saturation of the family-movie genre. There were 16 animated releases in 2011, up from 12 in 2010.

Mom’s book details heartbreak of young victim’s fatal shooting

PHOENIX – Christina-Taylor Green’s mother made sure her daughter had a hoodie to keep her warm and was buckled into the car that would take her to the grocery store where she going to meet Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

The plan was for the budding student of politics to ask the Democratic congresswoman about global warming and then go eat lunch with the neighbor who arranged the outing. Green’s mother, who had to pick up Christina-Taylor’s brother at karate, told her daughter that she loved her, and her daughter did the same.

The 9-year-old girl was among those killed Jan. 8 in the shooting rampage in Tucson, which also left Giffords badly injured.

Roxanna Green’s goodbye to her daughter is among many heartbreaking moments in the mother’s book, “As Good As She Imagined,” about Christina-Taylor’s spirited life, the shock of her death and her family’s struggle without her.

Roxanna Green said writing the book was challenging.

“I had some very dark and difficult moments, and you know, I would just pray and take a break and remember what the goal was — to honor my daughter and make sure her legacy endures forever,” Green told The Associated Press.

The book describes a girl who was occasionally obstinate but always happy, never had to be told to do her homework and wanted to ask President Obama and his family to join her family at a baseball game.

The book also offers a nightmarish, powerful account of the mother’s drive to the hospital after the shooting without knowing why she was being called there and the pain that the death will continue to bring.

It recounts her birth on the day of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, her curiosity and wit, an unusually early interest in government, talents as a baseball player and ambition to study at Penn State and become a veterinarian, a senator or a singer.

The book, co-written by Jerry B. Jenkins, is set for release Tuesday. Publicists provided advance copies of the book to the AP.

The family draws strength from Christina-Taylor’s memory.

One such moment that’s chronicled in the book came during a viewing of her body. Another mother told the Greens that when her son was new to his school, he sat alone on the bus for a few weeks and was unhappy.

The Greens’ daughter sat with him for two weeks and talked to him on the way to school and made him feel better. The mother thanked the Greens for their daughter’s kindness.

Christina-Taylor never relayed the story to her parents.