May the odds be ever in your favor while reading Suzanne Collins’ newest book.
The Hunger Games series sparked the love of reading for many people around the world. Her engaging series is very hard to put down. Readers eagerly want to know what is going to happen on the next page.
“I had asked for the books for Christmas in 8th grade and I read them all in a week,” said a New Hartford High School student Bella Silva. “I remember how excited I was and how much I loved them. They are what started my book binging!”
The main series is made up of three books: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay. The prequels of the series are The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and the newest addition is called Sunrise On The Reaping. All of the books have been written by author Suzanne Collins.
“I began as a playwright over forty years ago, and that dramatic structure became the template for the novels. … I know certain things I want to achieve by certain points in the story,” said author Suzanne Collins during a Scholastic interview “If I haven’t achieved them, something isn’t working the way I hoped, and I probably need to pause and figure out why.”
So much thought has been put into the books that readers can see what is happening in first person. Readers can see the nervousness that the main characters go through when it is reaping day. Reaping day is the day when a girl and a boy of any age get entered into a drawing for the games from each of the twelve districts. The descriptions of what the setting looks like in each fighting arena and in other settings that take place.
“Some of my favorite parts of the Hunger Games were definitely the ways that the games were described in the first two books,” said Bella Silva. “Everything about it was so detailed and I could picture it all like I was inside the games.”
The newest book of the series Sunrise On The Reaping takes place during when one of the characters, Haymitch, was picked to fight in one of the games. You see him as the mentor of Katniss and Peeta in the main books. Now readers get to take a read into his life before their games. In the book you meet a ton of new characters and some returning characters from the books before.
“I played around with it both ways, but I found that younger Haymitch speaks directly to the YA audience the best,” Suzanne Collins said during a Scholastic interview. “An older person reflecting back on their youth or shifting into a child’s perspective is harder to pull off.”
With the newest book coming out in 2025 there has also been an announcement that the next movie will be released in 2026 covering what has happened in this book. Readers are on the edge of their seats waiting who will be acting as the characters, especially playing the character of young Haymitch.
“I am super excited about the new movie! I can’t wait to read the book for it!” said Bella “I think it’ll be interesting to see Haymichs’ view of the games and his life before he entered the games.”
