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.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/214331246-sunrise-on-the-reaping
I found myself in a peculiar situation in that I hadn’t read the Hunger Games trilogy or seen the movies (I know, I know!). So, like any prequel that is intended to be read after the original series, I definitely felt like there were significances and connections about Panem and certain characters, like Haymitch, that I was missing. For this reason, I also wouldn’t recommend it as a whole class novel for middle or high school, as students who hadn’t been exposed to the original series might also feel confused. However, it is a great dystopian society study, a genre which I really enjoy. I think using it in ELA and Social Studies classes could be an option as there are so many parallels to what is going on in our world right now as well as the opportunity to compare it to other dystopian novels. Perhaps it could be a literature circle choice book, alongside A Handmaid’s Tale, Fahrenheit 451, 1984, and other dystopian books. There are also so many connections to political oppression and using propaganda in history, and how people protest and resist, and also why they don’t. And, even without knowledge of the other books in the series, I was easily pulled into the reaping events and all of Haymitch’s obstacles and fight, and outraged for him at the ending. I’m putting The Hunger Games on my summer reading list; better late than never!
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