Sunrise on the Reaping: Synopsis, characters, quotes & themes
With Suzanne Collins at the helm with Haymitch’s Hunger Games book, Sunrise on the Reaping, what exactly will it be about?
If you’ve devoured the Sunrise on the Reaping excerpt (and reread it five times for good measure), then you already know we’re heading back to the 50th Hunger Games, aka Haymitch’s Quarter Quell, aka the bloodbath of all bloodbaths, with double the tributes: 48, instead of the usual 24.
The Sunrise on the Reaping characters are already shaping up to be an intriguing and tragic bunch. And our eyes are on a younger, sharper, less alcohol-soaked Haymitch Abernathy as the main character.
So if you want specifics of what Sunrise on the Reaping will be about, I’ve put together a little compilation of what Sunrise on the Reaping characters we meet as well as the prominent themes and hard-hitting quotes.
In other words, we’re about to suffer, and I, for one, am ready for the sharp social commentary embedded in this dystopian fiction that’s closer to reality than I’d like it to be. We know that Suzanne Collins is mirroring the real world right now, which makes it hit even harder. You only have to look at what the news is showing us and what they’re NOT showing us. 🥲
But anyway, I’ve gathered the synopsis, character list and their connections to The Hunger Games and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes characters and more in this handy prep guide. Will we find out more about what happened to Lucy Gray and the Covey? Stay tuned.
It’s time. The book is here. My emotional stability is not. Just a heads-up that I’m live blogging this chaotic emotional journey in real-time as I read. Keep an eye on this space for updates,
Sunrise on the Reaping synopsis.
When you've been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?
As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.
Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.
When Haymitch's name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He's torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who's nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town.
As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he's been set up to fail. But there's something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.
Preorder Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins here.
Sunrise on the Reaping characters.
Haven’t read Sunrise on the Reaping yet? Just a heads-up that checking the character list is basically speedrunning your way to spoilers. If that’s your thing, feel free to spoil yourself to your heart’s desire. If you’re trying to avoid them, avoid the Internet completely and maybe bookmark this page and circle back when you’re ready or more emotionally prepared. May the odds be ever in your favor!
Also, I’m live blogging this emotional journey in real-time. Keep an eye on this space for more character confirmation updates.
1. Haymitch Abernathy.
Sunrise on the Reaping centers on main character, Haymitch Abernathy, our narrator, and we meet him on his 16th birthday. Unfortunately, that’s also known reaping day. He approaches reaping day the way he does everything else, with sharp pragmatism. If he can’t control the outcome, he won’t let the Capitol control him either.
“No way to control the outcome of the reaping or what follows it. So don’t feed the nightmares. Don’t let yourself panic. Don’t give the Capitol that. They’ve taken enough already.”
Haymitch lives with his Ma and little brother, Sid, scraping by in District 12. He works with Hattie Meeney, brewing and bootlegging liquor to sell at the Hob, where even Peacekeepers are among their best customers—happy to look the other way as themselves love a stiff drink. His days are spent hauling bottles, chopping firewood, and surviving.
Told through Haymitch’s first-person perspective, the story drops us straight into his world. One that’s about to be upended in ways he can’t predict.
2. Lenore Dove.
Even though Lenore Dove, doesn’t get much live page time, I’d argue she’s one of the main characters in Sunrise on the Reaping due to the immense amount of flashback scenes Haymitch has of her, as well as the foundation and formative impact she has on Haymitch from the moment he meets her, right through to his entire life following the 50th Hunger Games.
Lenore Dove is Haymitch’s girlfriend when we meet her in Sunrise on the Reaping. And you’d be correct if you previously speculated her lineage is Covey—in fact, she’s specifically got Baird in her, with her two Covey uncles, Clerk Carmine Clade and Tam Amber raising her as their own.
“They’re not blood kin, her being a Baird, but the Covey look out for their own.”
Haymitch observes, “For a girl who’s quiet in public, she sure can talk up a storm in private. Sometimes, she’s hard to keep up with.”
Lenore Dove is a mystery, full of surprises and full of secrets, as per tradition with Covey girls.
3. Maysilee Donner.
Maysilee Donner is a twin to Merrilee Donner and besties with Asterid March. At the beginning of Sunrise on the Reaping, Haymitch doesn’t have too much love for her, calling her “the most stuck-up girl in town,” and “about as highfalutin as they come.”
He went from loathing to respect for her, then formed a sibling-like type of love for her, where in the arena, he called her ‘Sis.’
District 12 tributes.
Then of course, we’ll have the rest of the tributes of the 50th Quarter Quell from District 12.
Maysilee Donner (Female tribute)
Louella McCoy (Female tribute)
Wyatt Callow (Other male tribute)
Sunrise on the Reaping tribute list.
These are all the first names of all the tributes reaped or selected to participate in the 50th Hunger Games and Second Quarter Quell.
District 1:
Panache Barker (Boy)
Silka Sharp (Girl)
Loupe (Boy
Carat (Girl)
District 2:
Alpheus (Boy)
Camilla (Girl)
Janus (Boy)
Nona (Girl)
District 3:
Ampert Latier (Boy)
Dio (Girl)
Lect (Boy)
Coil (Girl)
District 4:
Urchin (Boy)
Barba (Girl)
Angler (Boy)
Maritte (Girl)
District 5:
Hychel (Boy)
Anion (Girl)
Fisser (Boy)
Potena (Girl)
District 6:
Miles (Boy)
Wellie (Girl)
Atread (Boy)
Velo (Girl)
District 7:
Bircher (Boy)
Autumn (Girl)
Heartwood (Boy)
Ringina (Girl)
District 8:
Wefton (Boy)
Notion (Girl)
Ripman (Boy)
Alawna (Girl)
District 9:
Ryan (Boy)
Kerna (Girl)
Clayton (Boy)
Midge (Girl)
District 10:
Buck (Boy)
Lannie (Girl)
Stamp (Boy)
Peeler (Girl)
District 11:
Hull (Boy)
Chicory (Girl)
Tile (Boy)
Blossom (Girl)
District 12:
Wyatt (Boy)
Maysilee (Girl)
Haymitch (Boy)
Louella (Girl)
Here is the whole list of characters in Sunrise on the Reaping.
Haymitch Abernathy (main character)
Lenore Dove Baird (Haymitch’s girlfriend)
Sid Abernathy (Haymitch’s brother)
Maysilee Donner (District 12 female tribute)
Louella McCoy (District 12 female tribute)
Wyatt Callow (Other District 12 male tribute)
Merrilee Donner (Maysilee Donner’s twin sister & Madge’s future mother)
Burdock Everdeen (Katniss Everdeen’s father)
Asterid March (Katniss Everdeen’s mother)
Willamae Abernathy, aka, “Ma,” Haymitch’s mother
Hattie Meeney
Clerk Carmine (Lenore Dove’s ‘uncle,’ not by blood)
Tam Amber (Lenore Dove’s ‘uncle,’ not by blood)
Wiress (Haymitch and District 12’s mentor)
Mags Flanagan (Haymitch and District 12’s mentor)
Beetee Latier (District 3’s mentor)
Blair
Drusilla Sickle
Woodbine Chance
Plutarch Heavensbee
President Snow
Mayor Allister
Mr. Donner (Maysilee Donner’s father)
Caesar Flickerman
Otho Mellark (Peeta Mellark’s future dad)
Cassia (Plutarch’s camera crew)
Tibby (train attendant)
Juvenia (District One escort)
Proserpina Trinket (Haymitch’s prep team)
Vitus ( Haymitch’s prep team)
Magno Stift (Haymitch’s stylist)
Effie Trinket
Lou Lou
Hersilia (knife throwing instructor)
Faustina Gripper (Head Gamemaker)
Cayson
Ima McCoy (Louella’s sister)
Katniss Everdeen (epilogue appearance)
Peeta Mellark (epilogue appearance)
Characters that are mentioned (but don’t appear).
Sarshee Whitcomb
Lyle Whitcomb
Bascom Pie
“Pa”, Haymitch’s father
Buster (who gave Louella a bullfrog)
“Mamaw,” Haymitch’s grandmother
Cayson McCoy (Louella’s brother)
Clay Chance
Binnie Chance
Lou Lou (Maysilee’s canary)
Great-Aunt Messalina
Great Uncle Silius
Incitatus Loomy (The parade master)
Dr. Gaul
Trajan Heavensbee (Plutarch’s great-great-not-sure-how-many-greats grandfather)
Jethro Callow (Wyatt’s father)
Sunrise on the Reaping quotes.
Here are some of the most powerful Sunrise on the Reaping quotes I’ve captured so far. Brace yourself. More to come.
“I love you like all-fire.”
“You don’t really believe that do you?” “Maybe not. But I try to. Because the reaping’s going to happen no matter what I believe. Sure as the sun will rise tomorrow.” (Lenore Dove & Haymitch)
“And that’s part of our trouble. Thinking things are inevitable. Not believing change is possible.” (Lenore Dove)
“They have to keep it quiet because loving differently can get you harassed by the Peacekeepers, fired from jobs, arrested even.”
“They will not use our tears for their entertainment.”
“The moment our hearts shattered? It belongs to us.”
“Don’t let them use you, Sarshee. Don’t let them paint their posters with your blood. Not if you can help it.” (Haymitch’s dad, to a previous district 12 tribute)
Sunrise on the Reaping themes.
Some of the themes we encounter in Sunrise on the Reaping are:
Media propaganda and manipulation
Authoritarian political systems
Violence and the desensitisation of it
Power
Survival
Sacrifice
Love
Rebellion
Identity
Social inequity
