In June 2024, author Suzanne Collins announced Sunrise on the Reaping as the newest prequel to the wildly successful Hunger Games series. With the first book being released nearly two decades ago, The Hunger Games series has stood the test of time; as of 2018, it sold over 100 million print copies worldwide and has been adapted into five blockbuster films. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes — a prequel to the original trilogy released in 2020 — especially proved the relevancy of the Hunger Games to today’s readers. Sunrise on the Reaping hits the shelves on March 18, 2025, and is set to bridge the gap between Songbirds and Snakes and the core trilogy.
Sunrise on the Reaping will dive into the 50th Hunger Games and second Quarter Quell, which trilogy fans will recognize as the Games of victor Haymitch Abernathy of District 12. Catching Fire peeks into Haymitch’s Games during a scene in which Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark watch it on tape. However, Scholastic Editorial Director David Levithan urges readers not to get too comfortable with their knowledge of these Games. “Everything you thought you knew about the second Quarter Quell,” he shared, “well, you didn’t really know any of it.”
With Songbirds and Snakes, Collins always had surprising ways of connecting the prequel story to the trilogy — and it’s safe to assume that Sunrise on the Reaping will be no different. In anticipation of every page-turning twist and turn in Sunrise on the Reaping, here’s a recap of everything we know about Haymitch’s Hunger Games so far.
The Tribute Twist
Every 25 years, Quarter Quell takes place rather than a traditional Hunger Games tournament. Each Quell has a unique twist that raises the stakes of the Games; it’s meant to keep the Districts afraid of the Capitol and remind them of the Capitol’s control. For Haymitch’s Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes were reaped: two boys and two girls from each District. Thus, Haymitch was one of 48 tributes.
Watching the District 12 reaping for this Quell in Catching Fire, Katniss describes the other tributes. The most notable is Maysilee Donner, a merchant girl Katniss recalls was a friend of her mother’s. Maysilee’s twin sister is revealed to be the mother of Madge, the mayor’s daughter who gave Katniss her iconic Mockingjay pin.
The blurb for Sunrise on the Reaping further teases Haymitch’s district partners as “a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town.”
The Arena
The Quell arena is an unexpected dreamland. As Katniss describes it from the tape, it’s a green meadow full of flowers and adorns a golden Cornucopia. The sky is blue and full of white clouds and fluttering songbirds. The meadow stretches for miles, one end leading to a woods and the other to a snowy mountain. Flat cliffs line the perimeter of the arena, along with a force field to keep the tributes inside.
Of course, the arena’s beauty isn’t what it seems. The flowers, fruit, and water are poisonous. The animals are mutated, including butterflies with lethal stings and squirrels who attack in packs. The mountain is actually a volcano that erupts days into the Games and forces the tributes to retreat into the woods.
THe Victory
During the Games, Haymitch lasts on his own for a while before allying with Maysilee, who had been taking out tributes with handmade poisonous blow darts. When there are five tributes left, they split to avoid the chance of being the final two. Maysilee’s canon goes off shortly after, and Haymitch takes on the final tribute, a girl from District 1. He purposely leads her to the cliffs, where she throws an axe at him and he ducks. The axe ricochets off the force field and back into her, crowning Haymitch the victor.
Katniss and Peeta describe how Haymitch’s use of the forcefield is much like their stunt with the berries: they all weaponize the Capitol against itself. It made the Capitol look stupid, Katniss muses. As punishment, the Capitol kills Haymitch’s family and girlfriend, causing him to grow up as the lonesome alcoholic he is in the trilogy.
While Catching Fire gives insight into Haymitch’s origins and his relationship with the Capitol, Sunrise on the Reaping is certain to provide twists fans haven’t thought of yet. Sunrise on the Reaping is available to add to your collection on March 18, 2025.