Young Adult · Free kit
Sunrise on the Reaping
On his sixteenth birthday — which is also reaping day — District 12's Haymitch Abernathy wants only to finish his chores, waste the afternoon, and see Lenore Dove. The 50th Hunger Games is a Quarter Quell: twice as many tributes. When a boy runs from the square and is shot, Haymitch is shoved into the broadcast as the replacement. Suzanne Collins's 2025 prequel follows him to the Capitol with three other District 12 kids — a neighbor he calls sweetheart, a family oddsmaker, and the merchant girl he cannot stand — and into an arena built as much of cameras as of mutts. The question is not only whether he can win. It is whether anyone watching will be allowed to see what he actually did.
“Don't you let it rise on the reaping.”
Complete free book club kit
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Plan your meeting
Sunrise on the Reaping Hosting Guide
A free, printable-minded plan for hosting Sunrise on the Reaping.
Invite hook
“It is Haymitch Abernathy's sixteenth birthday. It is also reaping day. Twice as many tributes, a camera that will not tell the truth, and a girl in the Meadow who refuses to call any of it inevitable.”
The question you’re arguing about: When a story is edited in front of you, do you believe the tape — or the person who lived it?
Shopping list
- □Corn bread and a pot of stewed plums (or plum jam) — Haymitch's birthday breakfast before the square
- □Hard-boiled eggs and roasted potatoes — the kind of backpack food that might actually keep you alive
- □Hot chocolate, coffee, lemonade, juice, and sparkling water — pour whatever people ask for
- □A simple chicken-and-vegetable tray or a bean-and-cheese bake, plus a bowl of grapes or berries
- □Gold and coal-black napkins or a cheap sunrise print, plus four place cards labeled Haymitch, Wyatt, Louella, and Maysilee
- □Paper flint-striker bookmarks (a C-shape with a bird meeting a snake) and index cards
- □A door card with a content note: child death, state violence, torture, poisoning, grief — skip or pause as needed
- □Printed bingo cards, trivia slips, and extra pens
Day-of timeline
- 0–10 minWelcome with hot chocolate, coffee, or lemonade; guests pick up a paper flint striker and do icebreakers (inevitability, cameras — no plot)
- 10–20 minTrivia warm-up — start easy with the birthday reaping, the four tributes, and the score of 1; save the recap and the meadow for after discussion
- 20–60 minMain discussion: the Meadow argument, the parade, Lou Lou, the tank, Wellie, the recap, the homecoming, whose poster got painted
- 60–75 minSpeed debate: Was Haymitch right to leave the Newcomers? Keep a timer; this one will steal overtime
- 75–90 minBingo leftover squares, rate the book in one word, vote on next month
Surprise touch
Leave a paper flint striker and a blank card at each seat. Mid-evening, ask guests to write one object they would give someone walking into a hard day — pretty with a purpose, like Lenore Dove's birthday gift. Share only if they want. It is cheap, specific to Tam Amber's bird-and-snake steel, and it lets people touch the book's tenderness without performing the meadow out loud.
Wrap-up
- □Group photo with the four District 12 place cards and the paper strikers as the prop
- □Quick rating: 1–5 stars and one word each (try to ban devastating — make them work)
- □Vote on next month's book together — some groups will want air, or the original trilogy, after this one