We whet your appetite for ‘Hunger Games’ prequel
What was President Snow like as a student? And how did the Games begin?
If you read the “Hunger Games” books, you know the character Coriolanus Snow as the dictatorial president of Panem who wears roses on his lapels and antagonizes Katniss Everdeen. But what was the slick Snow (who’s played by Donald Sutherland in the movies) like as an 18-year-old student? ❚ As you’d expect, he was a clever and high-achieving student. As you might not expect, he had a soft side. ❚ Suzanne Collins explores Snow’s back story, and plenty more, in her 500-plus page “Hunger Games” prequel novel, “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” released Tuesday. ❚ Here’s what else you need to know about the book, which is set 64 years before the events of the original “Hunger Games” novel that was released in 2008.
Katniss is mentioned only in reference to a plant
Miss Katniss Everdeen (played by Jennifer Lawrence in the films)? She doesn’t exist in this book, which is set decades before she volunteers as tribute. The word “katniss” is used only when referencing a flowering plant that grows potatoes. However, there will be some names in the prequel readers will recognize. Among them: Lucretius Flickerman, who shares a last name with the Hunger Games host from the original trilogy, Caesar Flickerman (played by Stanley Tucci).
The origin of the annual Hunger Games is explained
How did the child-murdering competition start? “Ballad of