New York, NY – (April 13, 2023)—Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL), the global children’s publishing, education and media company, today announced the publication of a trade paperback edition and a movie tie-in paperback edition of the worldwide bestselling The Hunger Games series prequel, THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES, by Suzanne Collins¬—originally published in May 2020. 

“It’s amazing to see the anticipation and excitement building for the Ballad movie, and to know that these new paperback editions will get the story out to millions more readers.” said David Levithan, VP, Publisher, and Editorial Director for Scholastic.

 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was published in May 2020 and debuted at #1 on the New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. The book also was the top selling book in any category for the first half of 2020. To date, there are more than 3.5 million copies of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in print in North America, and the book is available in 39 languages in 39 territories to date.

 

The novel revisits the world of Panem sixty-four years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the Tenth Hunger Games. On returning to the world of The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins said upon the publication of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in 2020, “With this book, I wanted to explore the state of nature, who we are, and what we perceive is required for our survival. The reconstruction period ten years after the war, commonly referred to as the Dark Days—as the country of Panem struggles back to its feet—provides fertile ground for characters to grapple with these questions and thereby define their views of humanity.”

 

August 1, 2023 | Scholastic Paperbacks | Ages 12 and up 

ISBN: 978-1-339-01657-3 | $16.99 US / $22.99 CAN

 

September 19, 2023 | Scholastic Paperbacks | Ages 12 and up 

ISBN: 978-1-339-01658-0 | $16.99 US / $22.99 CAN

 

October 3, 2023 | Scholastic Paperbacks | Ages 12 and up 

ISBN: 978-1-339-04265-7 | $61.96 US / $82.96 CAN

 

Bestselling author Suzanne Collins first made her mark in children’s literature with the New York Times bestselling Underland Chronicles fantasy series for middle grade readers. She continued to explore the effects of war and violence on those coming of age with The Hunger Games Series. The Hunger Games (2008) was an instant bestseller, appealing to both teen readers and adults. It was called “addictive” by Stephen King in Entertainment Weekly, and “brilliantly plotted and perfectly paced” by John Green in the New York Times Book Review. The book appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for more than 260 consecutive weeks (more than five consecutive years), and there are more than 100 million copies of all four books in the series—The Hunger Games, Catching Fire (2009), Mockingjay (2010), and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2020)—in print and digital formats worldwide. Foreign publishing rights for The Hunger Games Series have been sold in 54 languages to 52 territories to date. In 2012 Lionsgate launched the first of four films based on the novels, starring Jennifer Lawrence. To date, the franchise has earned nearly $3 billion at the worldwide box office, and the much-anticipated feature film The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes will arrive in theaters nationwide on November 17, 2023.

 

In 2010 Suzanne Collins was named to the TIME 100 list as well as the Entertainment Weekly Entertainers of the Year list; in 2011 Fast Company named her to their 100 Most Creative People in Business; and in 2016 she was presented the 2016 Authors Guild Award for Distinguished Service to the Literary Community for exemplifying the unique power of young people’s literature to change lives and to create lifelong book lovers. It was the first time the Guild presented its annual award to a YA author. The Atlantic called Hunger Games heroine Katniss Everdeen, “the most important female character in recent pop culture history,” and TIME Magazine named Katniss to its list of “The 100 Most influential People Who Never Lived.” On The Hunger Games trilogy, The New York Times Book Review wrote, “At its best the trilogy channels the political passion of 1984, the memorable violence of A Clockwork Orange, the imaginative ambience of The Chronicles of Narnia and the detailed inventiveness of Harry Potter." For more information about The Hunger Games, visit http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/hungergames.

 

For more information about Scholastic, visit http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/.

 

Tracy van Straaten | tracy.vanstraaten@tvsmediagroup.com