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New except from Sunrise on the Reaping and as always I find it amazing. I'm going to devour this book when it comes out.

Lenore Dove having geese is such a simple detail but adds so much complexity to Haymitch’s flock in the end. Because Haymitch is letting himself remember her. He has what is no doubt a painfully bittersweet reminder of her and he can handle that. She was right in the end, just because there's been a Reaping every year on his birthday doesn't mean that they will always be one. He finally gets to see the sun rise on his birthday without the cruelty of a Reaping, but she's not there to see it. But he can remember her freely in a way he hasn't been able to for twenty-five years.

I like to think he named the geese for the people he lost. Lenore Dove, Sid, his ma, Maysilee, maybe the little sister like tribute we still don't know the name of. And of course the meanest most aggressive one is named Katniss, because it's Haymitch we're talking about and he just has to mess with her.

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Reading the excerpt of Sunrise on the Reaping and my mind honed in on Haymitch’s shorts, and just how much is said by that one little sentence. He mentions that they're made of an old bag of flour, and stamped on them are the words " Courtesy of the Capital".

This was a real thing, during the great depression era mother's used old sacks of flour, sugar and other things to make clothing for their children. Companies realized this and many began making their sacks with nice patterns. They tried to give these children a sense of normalcy, and a way to not shout that their families couldn't afford to get them actual clothes.

The Capitol doesn't do that. Instead they stamp them with their label. A reminder to the Districts that everything they have is only because the Capitol gives it to them. Their very lives are Courtesy of the Capitol. One sentence and Suzanne Collins has made a subtle statement about how the Capitol looks at the District children and does not care a lick about them.