the hunger games ballad of songbirds and snakes book

Noticing the interest the public has taken in viewing the tributes, Snow and Lucy cook up a scheme involving Lucy singing for the citizens to gain popularity. Other tributes take notice of this and begin quietly feeding their tributes, including Snow's peer Sejanus Plinth, a District sympathizer whose father bought his family's way into the Capitol from District 2 after the war.

Worried that his tribute will grow too weak if kept starved, Snow begins sneaking food from the Academy to give to Lucy, which spawns a sense of trust between the pair. Acting as an early model of the Tribute Center, the zoo allows the Capitol to keep the tributes caged and starved, and also allows Capitol citizens to view them. Snow's life is spared and Snow alongside the tributes are dropped off at the old zoo where the tributes are to be held until the games. When the tributes find Snow, recognizing he is a Capitol student, they ponder killing him, to which Lucy Gray reminds them that they and their families would be slaughtered. With the tributes reaped and the arena ready, the 24 teenagers are brought to the Capitol aboard a train, one that Snow accidentally winds up on while trying to meet Lucy at the right station. Lucy Gray Baird, a member of the traveling music group, The Covey, who was forced into the District by the war, makes a splash in the Capitol during the reaping ceremony where she was found to have slipped a snake down the back of the Mayor's daughter who had ensured Lucy would be reaped out of jealousy that Lucy had caught the attention of the boy Mayfair liked. However, when he learns that he has been paired with the female tribute from District 12, the poorest of Panem's districts, Snow grows anxious. With a cash prize attached for the winning mentor, Snow sees this as his opportunity to restore his family's wealth. Despite his hardships, Snow performs exceedingly well in his studies at the Capitol Academy, working against his critical principal Dean Highbottom, and is chosen to be a part of the mentorship program for the upcoming 10th Annual Hunger Games.

The hunger games ballad of songbirds and snakes book