'The Hunger Games' Saga Continues with 'Sunrise on the Reaping'
Suzanne Collins gives the people what they want: a book about the Second Quarter Quell, aka Haymitch Abernathy's games.
I’ve wanted to write more about books to motivate myself to read more. But, being a mood reader, I’m in the middle of at least 3-5 books at any moment. So, I needed some sign to kick-start any writing about books here — something to take the pressure out of the high bar I set myself for no reason other than I’m a perfectionist with an English degree. Then, I woke up to the news that Suzanne Collins is writing another Hunger Games book, set for release in 2025.
Moreover, it’s the long-awaited prequel about Haymitch Abernathy’s games. This book is as requested as the ones about Finnick Odair and Johanna Mason. Fans, myself included, have been clamoring for more about these characters and their stories since the publication of The Hunger Games trilogy. Per its brief description: “Sunrise on the Reaping will revisit the world of Panem twenty-four years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the Fiftieth Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell.”
This book, Sunrise on the Reaping, has seemingly only existed as a wish upon a star for Hunger Games fans — until now. Scholastic announced its publication date is March 18, 2025. How is that somehow so soon? So much so that, not long after that announcement, Lionsgate shared that The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping will be in theaters on November 20, 2026. That’s right; an unreleased book already has a film release date, and I have many questions.
How much of this book will actually be in Haymitch’s perspective, if any? Collins already gives a detailed recount of the 50th Hunger Games in Catching Fire’s 14th chapter. In that book, readers learned that the Second Quarter Quell stood apart from the first because Districts didn’t vote for their tributes. Instead, four tributes from each District were reaped for the games, putting not 24 but 48 children into the arena. The idyllic setting was essentially wall-to-wall poison with “muttations” like carnivorous squirrels and stinging butterflies.
Haymitch is only 16 when he wins The Hunger Games by outsmarting the arena and using its force field to his advantage, which President Snow, of course, sees as an act of rebellion. So, two weeks after surviving a Hunger Games like no other, Snow orders the deaths of Haymitch’s mother, brother, and girlfriend. Haymitch becomes a recluse and relies on alcohol to numb the pain of having experienced The Hunger Games and being the only (known) survivor from District 12. The tributes he mentors all die in the arena — until Katniss and Peeta come along.
From the original trilogy, we even know that Katniss’s Mockingjay pin originates with Maysilee Donner, one of the four tributes from District 12 and the person with whom Haymitch forms an alliance in the arena. So, there’s a chance that some of the book is from Maysilee’s point of view or one or both of the other District 12 tributes. Maybe Collins writes from the perspective of a Gamemaker.
The author told Associated Press News, “With ‘Sunrise on the Reaping,’ I was inspired by David Hume’s idea of implicit submission and, in his words, ‘the easiness with which the many are governed by the few.’ The story also lent itself to a deeper dive into the use of propaganda and the power of those who control the narrative. The question ‘Real or not real?’ seems more pressing to me every day.”
So, it wouldn’t be shocking if this new addition to The Hunger Games series follows one of the people responsible for creating the illusions in the arena. What goes into making the poisonous creatures the Capitol sicks on 48 tributes until young Haymitch Abernathy is the only kid left? How does the Capitol sell the violent story to the Districts? How do they react? I liked The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes because it tells the origin story of Coriolanus Snow while detailing how The Hunger Games came to be what they are by the time Katniss volunteers as tribute. Sunrise on the Reaping could provide even more harrowing context.
Likewise, it wouldn’t be surprising if Sunrise on the Reaping focuses on more than the Games. After all, the original trilogy and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes do. The books are about the build-up and the aftermath of the Games, too. The Hunger Games looks at that arc in three-part stories and an overall trilogy. 2020’s The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes — and its film adaptation — does so across three parts. Only time will tell if this new book will take the same structure.
Beyond those curiosities and the others that will come to mind long after this post is live, I wonder if Sunrise on the Reaping will provide any updates about other characters in the series who are around at the time of the Second Quarter Quell. Is Snow still gradually falling out (to put it so lightly) with his cousin Tigris? Does Haymitch wonder what happened to the District 12 tributes before him? Does anyone ask about the erased-from-existence 10th Hunger Games when Lucy Gray Baird (a person President Snow works very hard to ensure no one remembers) won? Will Haymitch cross paths with Katniss’s parents or Peeta Mellark’s dad?
It’s also not too early to think about who may play a younger version of Katniss and Peeta’s mentor from District 12. Will Hollywood work its magic so that Tom Blyth can play a 40-year-aged-up President Snow after The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes? My mind is reeling from this news!
I can’t help but think of the 14-year-old me who didn’t want to read The Hunger Games for English class (We saw the movie as a field trip!) but became obsessed. I vividly remember one cut-off point for class discussion being the end of Chapter 9 — when Peeta tells Caesar Flickerman and all of Panem that he’s in love with Katniss. I was beside myself! My reading comprehension and understanding of politics and the world have evolved so much since then that re-reading this series is a must. Now, I have nine months to do it! Suzanne Collins, your mind always impresses me, and thank you, Rachel Zegler, for manifesting this.
💌 Shelby
Featured Image Source: Lionsgate