A Thought-Changing Read
Guest Post by Mia Willardson
On May 19th, 2020, Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins released the novel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. This dystopian piece is a prequel to Collins’s bestselling series. The Ballad Of Songbirds and Snakes takes place during the tenth annual Hunger Games and centers around young Coriolanus Snow. Snow is chosen to mentor in the Hunger Games and feels mortified when he is assigned the tribute from district twelve, Lucy Gray Baird. In the capital, district citizens were inferiors—less than people. Coriolanus felt disgraced to be assigned a girl from district twelve. However, Snow begins to learn that Lucy Gray isn’t just a girl from district twelve. She’s a very smart young woman who likes to wear rainbow dresses, sing, dance, and make a scene. She begins to become a hit in the capitol and Snow begins to see her in a new light. He begins to believe that she has a shot at winning the Hunger Games.
This story helps Hunger Games fans understand how Katniss and Peeta’s world came to be. The reader is taught the history of the dystopian country, and the hardships Snow and his family faced.
The reader learns how certain events and traditions came to place in the Hunger Games universe. Readers will fall in love with the bold characters in the novel, and will definitely find themselves audibly gasping and laughing along with the story. Collins’s use of striking imagery will make the reader feel as though they are apart of the journey. Collins shocks readers with how much the story can compare to our world and our real-world issues. The story revolves around power, control, and how people will react to it on larger scales. You’d be surprised how children fighting for their lives in an arena would compare to what is happening now. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a must-read and is the thought-changing tale of the year.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins. Scholastic Press, May 2020.
Reviewer bio: Mia is a fifteen-year-old upcoming high school sophomore who adores creative writing and dystopian literary pieces.
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