How to Read 'The Hunger Games' Books in Order

Jennifer Lawrence in the movie adaptation of 'The Hunger Games.'

In the early 2010s, there was nothing hotter than teen dystopia. It was in bookstores (Ally Condie’s Matched, Kiera Cass’ The Selection) and on the big screen (Divergent, The Maze Runner)—and so popular that it seemed every kid in the world (and plenty of adults too) couldn’t stop thinking about the apocalypse. The series that started it all, however, was The Hunger Games. The first of the books, written by Suzanne Collins, was published in 2008, followed by two more novels and a prequel, which fans can read in order of release-date or story chronology (more on that below).

The series tells the story of Katniss Everdeen, a young woman living in a dystopian North America now known as Panem. In the first book, Katniss volunteers (in place of her sister, Prim) to compete in a tournament called the Hunger Games, which Panem’s Capitol government holds every year as penance for a previous uprising. Katniss soon becomes an unlikely hero to the masses of Panem, and by the end of third book Mockingjay, she’s a full-blown revolutionary leader.

The books were a massive success upon release but became even more popular with the big-screen debut of 2012’s The Hunger Games, starring Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss. Now with more than 100 million copies in print, The Hunger Games is one of the most popular young adult series of all time.

While the original book celebrated its 15th anniversary earlier this year, the franchise is back in the headlines again thanks to the Nov. 17, 2023, release of a prequel film titled The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The movie is based on Collins’ prequel novel of the same name, which hit shelves in May 2020. If you’re less familiar with Songbirds and Snakes, that could be because it arrived smack in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. Should you read it before or after the other Hunger Games books—and can it stand alone as its own story?

Keep reading to find out how to read The Hunger Games in order.

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How to read The Hunger Games in release-date order

There are two ways to read the Hunger Games series. The first, and arguably most popular way to do so, is to read them in order of publication:

1. The Hunger Games (2008)
2. Catching Fire (2009)
3. Mockingjay (2010)
4. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2020)

While The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a prequel set 64 years before the events of The Hunger Games, it delves much deeper into the history of Panem and the games themselves. Part of the joy of reading the original trilogy is discovering all the strange details of this universe as the books unfold. For example, what are the Districts, and why does everyone go along with this Hunger Games situation? If you read Songbirds and Snakes first, then you lose some of that mystery, as many of these questions will already be answered for you before you read The Hunger Games. (And while Songbirds and Snakes technically stands alone as its own story, it’s certainly more enjoyable with the context that comes from the trilogy.)

The other reason to save Songbirds and Snakes for last is that it centers on a younger version of Coriolanus Snow, who is the extremely evil leader of Panem in the original trilogy. He’s not a minor character in The Hunger Games and its sequels, but he’s also certainly not the hero. Reading Songbirds and Snakes adds a bit of nuance to Snow that makes him less of a flat villain and thus harder to hate—and it’s really fun to hate him.

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How to read The Hunger Games in chronological order

Some Hunger Games purists prefer to read the books in order of the events that happen in the books, which means The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes comes first. Set 64 years before The Hunger Games, Songbirds and Snakes follows young Coriolanus Snow as he mentors a young woman named Lucy Gray Baird for her appearance in the 10th annual Hunger Games. To read the books in chronological order, proceed as follows:

1. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2020)2. The Hunger Games (2008)3. Catching Fire (2009)4. Mockingjay (2010)

Starting with Songbirds and Snakes gives you a whole different perspective on Panem and Snow as you head into The Hunger Games. The prequel more thoroughly explores what happened during the Dark Days, i.e. the war between the Capitol and the Districts. It also introduces Snow’s family and offers context for some of his actions in the “present” day of Panem. Perhaps most importantly, it humanizes him, proving that at some point he was capable of love. This added backstory makes Snow much more interesting when you encounter him in the trilogy, as he becomes less of a one-sided villain and more of a well-rounded human being. The only problem with this approach is that it risks making you too sympathetic to Snow, who is unquestionably a bad person during the events of The Hunger Games and its sequels.

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