The Big Dreams of Small Creatures (The Hunger Games, #0)

by Suzanne Collins

From Black-ish writer and director Gail Lerner comes a whimsical and heartwarming tale where two unlikely allies band together to protect and defend the insect world from the worst enemy of all…humans.

“What an enchanting and wondrous book for young readers.” —Jamie Lee Curtis, actress and bestselling children’s book author

Ten-year-old Eden’s quiet life is upended when she saves a paper wasp nest from destruction and discovers, to her awe and amazement, that she and its haughty queen can talk to each other. This first conversation is the start of a grand adventure, leading Eden to The Institute for Lower Learning, a secret laboratory devoted to the peaceful coexistence of humans and insects. The Institute is more fantastic and idyllic than Eden could’ve imagined but hidden deep within its tunnels is an old secret that could spell the end for all insects on earth.

Nine-year-old August, an aspiring actor and bullied fourth-grader, is looking for that very secret after a few disastrous encounters have left him wanting to squash every annoying bug into oblivion. After all insects are small—he is big. And if there is anything he’s learned from the bullies at school—it's that being bigger is what counts.

But in the world of the Institute where insects have a place of their own, both Eden and August discover being bigger isn't necessarily better and sometimes the most courageous thing to do is to set out to make a new friend.

• ISBN10: 0593407857
• ISBN13: 9780593407851
• Publish Date: 4 October 2022 (first published 7 May 2020)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Nancy Paulsen Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 368
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780593407851

Reviews

[writehollydavis]

I can't believe I waited so long to read this book! I thought it would make me have empathy for Snow. Instead, it showed me how and why he became the person he was in THG. I loved reading grow they built and evolved the different components of the games such as sponsors, interviews, etc. Such a good book and breath of fresh air to return to this world and Suzanne's writing!

[chrisoatham]

Suzanne, why. Just why did you write this. I was so disappointed with this story. You're taken back to the 10th Annual Hunger Games where Snow is a mentor, but just centres on him trying to get himself more attention because he is broke. He is confused with his feelings and falls "in love" with Lucy Grey from District 12 but not from district 12, yeah ok hun. You've known her like 5 minutes, it don't work like that. It just felt forced.

THE SONGS. SO MANY SONGS. OVER AND OVER AGAIN. I can understand the origins of the songs used in the Hunger Games Series, but SO MANY OTHER SONGS. They took up so many pages, it was just eh.

The Names of the Characters, WHY WHY WHY do all these names have to be flamboyant or Roman, is there really a need - it just made it hard to keep up with the PLETHORA OF CHARACTER'S in this book.

So much fluff, so much stuff that just didn't need to be written. This book is so confused on what is trying to be. It only really picks up in the last few chapters and even then was anti-climatic.

I had such high hopes for this book, loving the original series but yuck, yuck, yuck. YUCK.

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

A long-desired companion to THE HUNGER GAMES, THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES is an interesting story and expanded exploration of Panem. While I don't think this book is quite as high-quality as the original trilogy, I did enjoy it. The characters were flat, the plot meandered... but the world was as fantastic as ever.

Knowing how Panem and the Hunger Games evolved in the early days after the war was a tidbit of knowledge I didn't know I wanted until I started reading this one. I was fascinated by the growth of the world, and I absolutely felt like the founding stones for the world we know during Katniss' era are all here in THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES. My biggest complaints are in the shallowness of the characters (Lucy Gray Baird, in particular, felt like a lost opportunity), the length of the book, and the abruptness of the ending. If you're looking for a strong, character-driven story, THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES isn't it. But if you're interested in the world of THE HUNGER GAMES, I think this is a great exploration of this world, and in general, it's an enjoyable, thought-provoking read.

For a deeper discussion on this book, as well as further reviews and extended bookish content, please check out The Literary Phoenix.

[tylerrosereads]

This was a disappointment, but like, I knew it would be.

The characters felt flat, the plot felt kind of pointless, I think we could have done without this.

The only part I liked was just seeing some behind the scenes of how the games were starting out, but that could have been better accomplished in like a spin off history style companion.

Sigh. Well I can say that I read it I guess...

[Stephanie]

This review was originally posted on Once Upon a Chapter






Who isn't reading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins right now? I read it because it filled a prompt for my TBR Monopoly and I was very curious if lightning strikes twice. I'm sad to report that it didn't for me.



I was in love with this concept. It's 10 years after the end of the war and people are starting to heal....which means forgiving and if not necessarily forgetting. There are some in the Capital who cannot stand the thought of moving on. No one is interested in the games and the message that the Capital rules all is not being received in the Districts.



That's where Corolinus Snow and the rest of the seniors in his class step in. It's their job to mentor the tributes and make the 10th anniversary something to remember.



I thought the premise was great but man was this book is a lot of pages for what didn't seem like much of a story. If I had never read The Hunger Games and started this book first I would have given up. I think it's an interesting addition for fans but really could have been about 100 pages shorter. I really did like learning about the changes and everything that happened back then and I loved the new characters. It wasn't enough though.



I could have gone without reading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins but with the audiobook that I borrowed from the library it only took 2 days so I'm happy with that. It was a very middle of the road experience for me.

[akennedy691]

I found this book to be very interesting. Tied enough to the trilogy that I found myself comfortable, yet lots of new insights and turns, which had me happily surprised. Will probably read again in the near future .

[Quirky Cat]

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is the latest novel to come from Suzanne Collins. It's also a prequel novel for the Hunger Games – her hit series. The odds are in your favor for having already heard a lot of news about it.

Personally, I was excited from the very first moment I heard about it. I know that some fans were concerned with the idea of the novel focusing on Snow. They were concerned that it was going to romanticize him, or otherwise downplay what he had done. I never had that concern. I believed that Collins had a story to tell, and she earned our trust with her original trilogy. Having read The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, I believe this was the right take on the matter.

The tenth annual Hunger Games is about to begin, and Snow – alongside eleven other classmates – has been pulled into the project. For the Hunger Games aren't as successful as the creators had hoped. People aren't watching them, they aren't remembering properly.

Snow, being the driven character that he is, is determined to turn this into something positive for himself and his family. After all, Snow always lands on top. If he can get his name out there, he can start rebuilding the family name.

“For a moment he laughed, forgetting where they were, how depressing the backdrop. For a moment there was just her smile, the musical cadence of her voice, and the hint of flirtation. Then the world exploded.”

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes brings us back to the world of the Hunger Games. But it is not the world we've come to know. No, instead that world is still in the process of being born. This is the tale of how we got to that point.

Holy cow. I knew that this book was going to be intense. Any novel showing us the origin of the Hunger Games would be. More than that, it also told the story from the perspective of a known villain, a fact that was sure to up the intensity even more.

Even so, I could not have predicted how intense certain scenes were. It's clear that Suzanne Collins has done it again. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is graphic, poignant, and shocking. That she's able to wrap up a message into the tale makes it all the more impressive.

I think that each reader is going to have their own takeaway with this book. Personally? I saw it as the story of compromise. One can only compromise their morals for so long before they become somebody else.

That's how I saw the transition in Snow. He started out as a boy desperate to make a name for himself. While he didn't love the Hunger Games, he was willing to become a part of them in order to further his cause. From there, it was a series of moral sacrifices, all of which led him to becoming the president we know him as.

The origin of the Hunger Games was fascinating. Dark and horrible, of course. But fascinating. You can really see how it developed here – and who had a hand in it all. It was also brilliant to get another chance to see District 12, alongside their tributes.

I don't want to talk too much about the tributes too much, because of spoilers and all that. I will say that I absolutely adored them both, and the story would not have been the same without their inclusion (for obvious reasons).

Fans of the Hunger Games trilogy will be thrilled with the number of little references Suzanne Collins wove into The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Some of them are larger – like the origin of this and that, while others are subtle hat tips. It was fun to try and pick up on all of them and added another layer to the reading experience.

I am so glad that we were given one more opportunity to read from this world. I truly do not know if there will be any more, but I am content with what has been handed to us. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was everything I had hoped it would be, and so much more.

Check out more reviews at Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[alindstadtcorbeax]

Star Rating —> 4.5 Stars rounded^

Okay so— unpopular opinion time, I guess ?

Even though this absolutely broke my heart, I knew what was coming. A happy ending type of tale, this is not, my friends. This fact is something you must be prepared for, to enjoy this novel. As I read, anxiety increasingly built up in my heart & the knot in my chest became bigger & more tightly wound. The further on in the book that I was, the more a semi-good natured young man turned into something considerably more sinister.

A huge price one pays, indeed, for power...

Despite this, I thought that it was an absolutely brilliantly woven tale; It is the perfect story of man to monster for one Coriolanus Snow, a tyrant if there ever was one, that we all (well, most of us anyway— can’t speak for everyone) have loved to despise for a very long time.

My heart truly WAS shattered; I just didn’t expect this to hurt so very much. I really liked Coriolanus at one point, & almost felt badly for him. That changed considerably as the novel progressed. Although I must say, even when he was unlikeable, he was somehow, sometimes, still likeable?

My hopes for Snow to keep some humanity and goodness were squashed time & time again by my own remembrance of where things had to be heading. But that barely comes into play in my rating, because again... where else was there to go but down, morally, for Snow? The novel consistently kept me guessing though; Even as the novel was reaching its end, I truly had absolutely no clue how things would play out or what the path that Coriolanus was heading down looked like ATALL, to become the President Snow we are familiar with. He constantly was making choices that really could have multiple intentions behind, and it was just always ambiguous for me, until it was revealed that it wasn’t. There are still things at this moment that I do not know the real motivation behind.

It really says something that I kept pondering the outcome & hoping that goodness would in some way prevail come the end. Does he have any in him? That is for you to decide, once you reach the end. I don’t want to spoil things with my answer. Plus this tale truly leaves you wondering— I have been lost in thought ever since turning that very last page.

The only complaint I have is the lack of actual information on the thoughts of certain characters regarding Coriolanus’ choices, a certain character or two in particular, and what had become of them come the end of the book.

Overall— highly recommend, and I went into this thinking ‘ugh, why would I want to read about President Snow’? Turns out, I really, really did. Sure he’s a bit inherently unlikeable, lol, but I like morally grey characters. I was positively glued to it. I hope that you are as well. Another brilliant work from Collins!

[Veronica 🦦]

C+ | This is a hard book for me to review because I am very conflicted. I kept flipping between giving the star rating for Goodreads. Why? This book is a mixed bag of good, bad, and what in the heck is happening? I don’t hate the book. If anything I actually enjoyed this book, even though it is very slow and drawn out. It’s entertaining, has decent worldbuilding, and it certainly got reactions out of me. However, this book is a lot of telling and not enough showing with very awkward pacing. It’s just mediocre. Entertaining, but mediocre nevertheless.

Read more of my thoughts on my blog, moon & coffee.

[Amber]

You can watch my vlog and review of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes here!

I wasn't originally going to pick up The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes as I didn't really have any interest in President Snow's backstory, and I thought that without Katniss Everdeen, the Hunger Games wouldn't be all that interesting. I was correct.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes felt, to me, entirely pointless. I struggled from the beginning to connect with Snow's younger self. It seems strange to me that Collins chose to write the story from Snow's point of view, as presumably everyone reading this book will know what he is to become. I read books to connect with the characters, but I couldn't do that with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes because I simply could not see the two Snows as two different people. I knew who he was.

Even if I hadn't known what Snow was going to do in the future, I still don't think he's a very good character to write about. I didn't want to be inside his head, as he's rich and arrogant and entitled. He's just an awful person, and you see huge glimpses of that while reading from his point of view.

It would have made more sense to me if The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes had been written from someone else's point of view, but still featuring Snow prominently. I would really like to find out what Collins' reason for writing the book this way was, because to my mind it would have been stronger if we'd have seen Snow from the point of view of someone close to him. Sure, still write about people from the Capitol, but it seems silly to me to write about someone so hated, especially if they're a complete ass from the start.

I also didn't like the songs. I'm just putting it out there.

I think I just didn't care enough about this book to really get into it. Perhaps my experience would have been slightly different if I'd reread the original trilogy first and everything was fresh in my mind. However, I didn't enjoy reading about the Hunger Games from Snow's point of view. I cared about what the tributes were going through, not some posh guy who was never in danger in the same way.

I did enjoy the extra backstory about the war and the rebels, and how the Games evolved, however I think all of that information would have been better in some sort of encyclopaedia, or, you know, an actual book about the war.

In my opinion, this book isn't worth reading unless you're a die hard fan of the original series. Even then, I'm not sure you'll love it.