The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
by Suzanne Collins
★ Top 5 book of 2020 · #2 on Best Books of 2020
Eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow sees mentoring in the tenth Hunger Games as his chance to restore his struggling family's fortunes. Paired with the female tribute from District 12, he must balance following the rules against surviving at any cost.
Best for: Hunger Games fans who want to see Coriolanus Snow's ambitious early years
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is #2 on BookWard's Best Books of 2020, out of 65 2020 books that cleared our data bar.
What The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is about
Sixty-four years before the events of the first Hunger Games novel, the Hunger Games are still a young and clumsy tradition, and Coriolanus Snow is a Capitol teenager with a famous name and almost nothing else. His family was once powerful and is now struggling to keep up appearances. His chance comes when 24 Capitol Academy students are chosen to mentor tributes in the upcoming 10th Hunger Games, with the mentor of the winning tribute receiving the Plinth Prize, a generous scholarship fund.
Coriolanus draws Lucy Gray Baird, the District 12 girl from a travelling musical troupe called the Covey, and he finds himself caring about her fate more than he expected. He even offers new ideas to make the Games more watchable. Beside him is Sejanus Plinth, a rich classmate from District 2 who sympathizes with the districts and counts Coriolanus as his only friend. Dark and tense, it asks how far ambition can bend a person's sense of right and wrong.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes on the Best Books of 2020
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes came out in 2020. Of the 65 books first published in 2020 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #2 on our Best Books of 2020 list.
Why it made the list: 1,554 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.3 out of 5 (47 ratings); 68 are reading it right now. The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
It earns Being read right now.
Nearby on the 2020 list
- Good Girl, Bad Blood Holly Jackson, #1
- The Psychology of Money Morgan Housel, #3
- The Inheritance Games Jennifer Lynn Barnes, #4
See all Best Books of 2020 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2019 Best Books of 2021.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 1,392 want to read it, 68 are reading it now and 94 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 4.3 out of 5 from 47 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 94 | 55% |
| Reader love | 78 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 91 | 20% |
Questions about The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
When was The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes published?
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins was first published in 2020.
Was The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes one of the best books of 2020?
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is #2 on BookWard's Best Books of 2020, out of 65 2020 books that cleared our data bar. 1,554 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.3 out of 5 (47 ratings); 68 are reading it right now.
Why is The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes on the Best Books of 2020 list?
1,554 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.3 out of 5 (47 ratings); 68 are reading it right now.
More of the best books of 2020
- Good Girl, Bad Blood Holly Jackson, #1
- The Psychology of Money Morgan Housel, #3
- The Inheritance Games Jennifer Lynn Barnes, #4
- Heartstopper, Volume 3 Alice Oseman, #5
- The Midnight Library Matt Haig, #6
- Credence Penelope Douglas, #7
See the full Best Books of 2020, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
Find your own best books
Add what you have read, rate it, and BookWard will recommend what to read next.
Free while in beta. No credit card needed.