While most upcoming book adaptations happen years after the release of a given novel, the latest Hunger Games book was announced at the same time as its movie counterpart last summer. Suzanne Collins’ novel has been in fans’ hands for just a little less than three weeks at this point, and many are still emotionally processing the full story behind Haymitch Abernathy’s Hunger Games. Wildly enough, though the author recently provided some really interesting insight into the book’s development.
I know I certainly imagined a reality where Sunrise on the Reaping was told from the perspective of the Haymitch introduced in the original Hunger Games trilogy. Suzanne Collins just shared that she actually considered going in that direction. As for why she decided to write the novel from a teen Haymitch’s point of view, she said the following:
I played around with it both ways, but I found that younger Haymitch speaks directly to the YA audience the best. An older person reflecting back on their youth or shifting into a child’s perspective is harder to pull off. Good work, Harper Lee!
