With the announcement of the newest installment of “The Hunger Games” series, “Sunrise on the Reaping,” I wanted to take a chance to talk about where it all began.

“The Hunger Games” series is a dystopian universe written by Suzanne Collins that is centered around teenage protagonist Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence).

The first book in this series was released in 2008, and gives the much-needed backstory on this universe.

For those who may not know, “The Hunger Games” is set in the fictional nation of Panem that consists of 12 functioning districts, and one district that was obliterated due to a rebellion. In the remaining 12 districts, one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 are selected through a lottery every year to participate in an event called the Hunger Games.

In this televised event, the tributes chosen must fight to the death in an outdoor arena until only one victor remains.

Katniss ends up volunteering on behalf of her sister, Primrose (Willow Shields), and she and her fellow tribute Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) are carted off to the games. They’re mentored by Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), who at the start is often too drunk to actually mentor them.

Eight-year-old Bre was enraptured by this book, and when the movie was released in 2012, I was so excited to finally see my favorite parts of the novel come to life on the big screen.

I was horribly disappointed.

Though I thought the cast was perfect and the scenes depicted in the arena were exactly as I pictured, the small parts that made the novel special to me were left out.

I won’t talk about all my gripes with the movie here, but instead focus on the two big ones.

The first of which is how Katniss receives her Mocking Jay pin — the very same pin that will become a symbol for the rebellion later on.

Collins did a fantastic job of connecting the 50th Hunger Games to the current one by using the descendents of a fallen tribute.

In the books, Katniss is given that pin by Madge Undersee, niece of Maysilee Donner who was Haymitch’s ally during his games. This pin won Katniss numerous allies in the book, including Rue from District 11.

In the movie, however, the pin is something Katniss barters for and gives to her sister. Primrose returns it to Katniss after the reaping. This whole exchange completely overpassed the importance of the moment!

The other major gripe I have with the movie is the way they handled the mutts at the end.

It’s no secret that I am a huge horror enthusiast, and even when my age was single-digits I was so excited to read about the “muttation” created by the Capitol.

In the book, the end scene has a group of “mutts” chasing Katniss and Peeta towards the cornucopia. The mutts were canine in appearance, but their most striking feature was that each one resembled a tribute who had died in that year’s games.

The book described them in great detail, speaking about their intelligence and resemblance to the other tributes — Katniss was able to pick out mutts of specific tributes due to defining characteristics. Rue’s mutt was small, Foxface’s mutt had red fur, Glimmer’s mutt was blonde with green eyes, etc.

I specifically remember Peeta questioning whether or not they used the fallen tribute’s actual eyes.

It was visceral and horrifying, and I was so excited to see it in the film.

In the movie, the mutts didn’t resemble the tributes at all and instead just looked like big weird dogs. A total let down for my psychological horror heart.

“Sunrise on the Reaping” is apparently going to be Haymitch-centric, and I cannot wait to see what Collins does with his storyline. Haymitch’s games were always the most fascinating to me — not only did he beat the odds stacked against him, but he did it with double the amount of tributes.

“Sunrise on the Reaping” is not the first prequel novel Collins has written in recent years.

Collins released a prequel novel centered around a young Coriolanus Snow and District 12’s tribute Lucy Gray Baird titled “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” in 2020, followed by a movie of the same name in 2023.

I loved both the book and the movie for this installment, and the intricate details I had been hoping to see were mostly shown on the big screen.

I am beyond excited to see what Collins does with Haymitch’s storyline, and hopefully see all the little tidbits that 12-year-old Bre was so enraptured with. Tune in to an upcoming episode of The Express Compressed on Spotify and Apple Music to hear more of my thoughts on the subject.

“The Hunger Games” is rated PG-13 and can be watched on Amazon Prime Video.

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Breanna Hanley is a reporter for The Express.