Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day and first I'd like to send appreciation to every mother out there, especially my mom, who provided my love for reading. Currently we are reading the same book together. It is called The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and it is a prequel for the beloved by all Hunger Games Series. It explains President Snow's (the antagonist of the Hunger Game's Series) childhood and how warm he actually was as a child. What changed him from a star crossed lover to a district hating president? Let's take a stroll in what may have caused this kindhearted soul to kill thousands of people.

Snow was orphaned at young age and his grandmother took in him and his cousin Tigris as her own kids. She had no faith in the districts and thought that the people carried diseases. Still in Coryo's early life a district-Capitol war broke out. The Capitol eventually won, but at the cost of wealth and many lives. The Snow family, a previously strong, wealthy, and well respected household, was strongly impacted by this war and lived on nothing but lima beans and became desperate for money for many years.

` To gain money Coryo mentored in the 10th annual hunger games hoping to help the girl from District 12, Lucy Gray Baird, survive the Games and ultimately win. He could win a scholar ship to the Academy or even better the Plinth Prize! Early on he even starts to have feelings for his contestant but once she is in the arena there is one major decision he must make. Does he care about Lucy Gray or his future more? How can he get an edge? And how can he stay safe while doing so?

My mom and I have been talking about the book because we are reading at the same pace. Things we don't love about the book include the protagonist being male. This makes it a bit harder to relate to Snow but this is only minor. At the beginning of the book he is very ego and money driven but he kind of softens up. Other than those two things the speed of the book is incredibly slow but it does give a ton of details. These are all somewhat minor concerns and I would still recommend it even considering these circumstances.

Another great part of this book is that even if you have no prior knowledge on the Hunger Games you can still pick it up and read it. Yes, there are many hidden Easter eggs and other inferences that you know something. But through context you can easily figure out what a new word means. My friend, Maddy, recommended this book to me and I am so thankful she did, because I am loving it.

In conclusion, I would recommend the book. It has three different parts that it is divided into so if you like that feeling of accomplishment I think it would be great. I have not seen the movie yet and quite possibly you could just watch the movie instead but as I always say "The book is better." Happy Mother's Day! Thank you for reading this post! And READ THE BOOK! 🥰