The Covey plays a big role in 'Sunrise on the Reaping.' Here's a guide to the family and how they relate to Katniss.

• In "Sunrise on the Reaping," Suzanne Collins revealed that the Covey has ties to Katniss Everdeen.
• Collins introduced readers to the Covey in "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes."
• This article contains spoilers for "The Hunger Games" series.

Just a week after its release, Suzanne Collins' latest "Hunger Games" prequel is already a massive hit.

"Sunrise on the Reaping" — which follows Haymitch Abernathy's experience in the 50th Hunger Games — was released on March 18 and has already sold 1.5 million copies.

The novel is full of revelations about the Hunger Games universe, much of which centers on the Covey family, who were introduced in Collins' other "Hunger Games" prequel. Most importantly, it reveals that Katniss Everdeen has Covey ancestry.

Spoilers ahead for "The Hunger Games" series.

The Covey first appears in 'The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes'

Collins released her first "Hunger Games" prequel, "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes," in May 2020.

Set 64 years before "The Hunger Games," the book follows a young Coriolanus Snow as he mentors a tribute for the 10th Hunger Games. He is assigned to the female District 12 victor, Lucy Gray Baird.

After she is reaped for the games and taken to the Capitol, Lucy Gray explains to a reporter that she is from the Covey family and isn't originally from District 12.

"My people are Covey. Musicians by trade. We just took a wrong turn one day and were obliged to stay," Lucy Gray said. She explained they were from "no district in particular" and used to "move from place to place" playing music before Peacekeepers forced them to stay in District 12 following the first rebellion.

At the start of "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes," there are six living members of the Covey family living in District 12: Billy Taupe Clade, Clerk Carmine Clade, Tam Amber, Maude Ivory Baird, Barb Azure Baird, and Lucy Gray Baird.

Billy Taupe and Clerk Carmine are brothers, and Maude Ivory, Barb Azure, and Lucy Gray are cousins. Tam Amber is not related to the rest of the Covey by blood, but the group treats each other as a found family.

By the end of the book, only four Covey members are left in District 12. Billy Taupe is murdered, and Lucy Gray is either killed by Coriolanus or disappears into the woods as she flees from him, never to be heard from again in Panem.

The Covey has blended into District 12 in 'Sunrise on the Reaping'

When Collins brings readers back to District 12 in "Sunrise on the Reaping," the Covey has further assimilated to District 12 in the 24 years since the events of "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes."

Tam Amber and Clerk Carmine are still living in the district, and they are raising their niece, Lenore Dove Baird. Lenore is Haymitch's girlfriend, and Haymitch says in the text that her mother died giving birth to her.

Any of the three Covey girls could be Lenore Dove's mother, but it's most likely Maude Ivory for a few reasons. Most importantly, at the end of the book, Haymitch sees graves for Lucy Gray and Maude Ivory when he visits Lenore Dove's resting place.

In "Sunrise on the Reaping," Lenore Dove is around 16, so she would have been born about eight years after Lucy Gray's Hunger Games. Even if she survived her final encounter with Coriolanus at the end of "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes," it's unlikely that Lucy Gray was in District 12 when Lenore Dove came into the world, as she would have run off to live out her days in the wilderness for safety.

Lucy Gray's grave is also described as "a mossy slab of stone," while Maude Ivory's is "a creamy white stone," making Maude Ivory's seem slightly newer.

Readers can infer from Lenore Dove's age and the timeline the graves suggest that Maude Ivory was Lenore Dove's mother, not Lucy Gray.

Katniss is a Covey descendant

In "Sunrise on the Reaping," Haymitch says he meets Lenore Dove through his friend Burdock Everdeen, Katniss' father.

"She wasn't one of Burdock's Everdeen cousins, but I knew he had some distant ones on his ma's side," Haymitch says of Burdock's ancestry.

Because of Muade Ivory and Lucy Gray's fates, Burdock's mother seems to be Barb Azure Baird. Barb Azure would then be Katniss' grandmother, making her a distant relative of Lucy Gray and Lenore Dove.

Collins laid the groundwork for the similarity between Katniss and the Covey girls throughout "The Hunger Games."

She has a rebellious spirit like her ancestors, and both Katniss and her father are described as having beautiful singing voices throughout the series. Haymitch reinforces singing as a trait Burdock inherited from the Covey in "Sunrise on the Reaping." He describes Burdock as having a "remarkable voice." A few pages later, he says Lenore Dove loves music: "Like all the Covey, music in her blood."

Later, at Haymitch's mother and brother's funeral, Burdock sings "The Old Therebefore," a song Lucy Gray sings when she thinks she is about to die in the Games. Music, specifically Covey music, is in Burdock's blood, too.

The Covey also inadvertently gives Katniss her Mockingjay pin

The Mockingjay token Katniss wears in her first Hunger Games becomes an important symbol throughout Collins' series.

The bird represents that the Capitol cannot control everything, as it results from the mating of Capitol Jabberjays and naturally-born Mockingbirds. Katniss embodies that spirit when she leads the rebellion against President Coriolanus Snow and his government, using the Mockingjay symbol to help inspire others to act.

Katniss' friend, Madge Undersee, gives her the pin to wear after she volunteers as a tribute to District 12. In "Catching Fire," Madge tells Katniss the pin originally belonged to her aunt, Maysilee Donner, who competed alongside Haymitch for District 12 in the 50th Hunger Games.

In "Sunrise on the Reaping," Haymitch reveals that Tam Amber originally forged it. Maysilee never wore hers, telling Tam Amber that Mockingjays were "ugly old things" to Lenore Dove's anger.

Haymitch explains the mythology surrounding Mockingjays to Maysilee while they're in the arena, giving her a new perspective on them. She says she will give the pin another try if she survives the Games. Maysilee never gets the chance to wear the pin, but a Covey girl does, bringing the moment full circle.