The fastest selling young-adult book of the year, The Sunrise on the Reaping, has sold over 1.5 million copies in English, and the number is still rising.
Suzanne Collins’ fifth book of The Hunger Games series was published on March 18, 2025 and is also getting celebrated by the Ida B. Wells High School community. “I loved that book… I was, like, full of tears after I finished reading that book,” says Ellen Murchison, a senior at IBW.
Based on Katniss Everdeen’s Hunger Games trilogy, The Sunrise on the Reaping is the second prequel after The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes that was released in 2020.
Both books add on to the original dystopian series, which revolves around Katniss Everdeen, a 16-year-old girl who gets selected to participate in the annual Hunger Games of her country, Panem. After surprising everyone by surviving the Games with her partner Peeta Mellark, Katniss starts a rebellion against the oppressive government.
While The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes highlights the story of Coriolanus Snow, the future President of the Districts of Panem, The Sunrise on the Reaping focuses on Katniss’ mentor, Haymitch Abernathy.
Getting to know Haymitch as a younger character is a very interesting, and complex idea. Many readers already know him from The Hunger Games, where he turns from an unsatisfied heavy drinker into one of the heroes of the series, but in The Sunrise on the Reaping readers can get to know him as a teenager. “It felt really fitting for Haymitch’s backstory… It just felt natural and it felt like a really good explanation for why he is the way that he is,” says Miles Crane, a junior at IBW.
In the novel, usually 1 male and 1 female tribute is reaped from each district, but to celebrate the Capitol’s 50th anniversary, 4 tributes are selected this year. When Haymitch gets chosen, not only does he have to deal with the unforgivable arena but also with homesickness and the separation from his girlfriend, Leonore Dove.
But Haymitch negotiates alliances, finds a rebellion group and tries to foil the gamemakers plans by breaking the arena and starting a rebellion in the whole country of Panem.
“I loved all the moments where you could kind of link it to the original trilogy and where you can see the resemblance of like cameos of different characters,” says Crane.
Not only is Haymitch familiar, but also Katniss’ father Burock Everdeen appears as Haymitch’s best friend.
The epilogue in the end, which briefly describes the lives Katniss, Peeta and Haymitch have later, provides the reader another perspective on the well-known characters.
Overall, Collins’ portrayal of Haymitch as well as the familiarity of the characters are highly-praised. The book definitely deserves five out of five stars and is recommended to any Hunger Games fan, being a great addition to the original trilogy.
The Sunrise on the Reaping is both a compelling story and a hoped-for reunion with our beloved Hunger Games characters. “I think you should read the [original] Hunger Games books first but I also think everybody should read [the prequels],” says Murchison.
