The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Week 1

Welcome to Week 1 of the Online Book Club discussion of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

The Online Book Club, if you've never joined us before, is a book discussion group that takes place entirely online. Each week, I write a new blog post that talks about different aspects of the book, and you can interact directly with me and other readers by leaving your comments. Check back each week and see what new topics we're talking about.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a prequel to The Hunger Games trilogy. In The Hunger Games trilogy, Coriolanus Snow is the president and most influential man in the Capitol. However, in this book, he is still just a student, desperate to make his mark on the world and rescue his family from financial ruin. At the beginning of the book, he becomes a mentor to one of the tributes from District 12, and he is hoping to win the Hunger Games in order to get a full-ride scholarship to University. His chances look slim until he meets his tribute and realizes that she is captivating and different, and people will root for her to win the games. Snow and his tribute, Lucy, soon become close, and Snow risks everything in order to help Lucy succeed. 

If you want to follow along with us, but you aren't interested in reading the book, you can always watch the movie adaptation starring Rachel Zegler and Viola Davis. Check out the trailer above if you want to get a feel for the how the story plays out on screen. Feel free to still leave comments on the blog posts, even if you're only watching the series and not reading the book. 

We'll read the first 10 chapters for next week, so make sure to check those out before reading the next blog post! I hope to hear from you in the comments!