The Giver

Title: The Giver
Author: Lois Lowry
Publisher: Bantam Books, 1993
Reading Level: 6th and up
Pages: 179
Genre: Science Fiction









Summary:

Jonas lives in a society that's a utopia. Pills are given to the adults to supress any emotions. Jonas begins to take these pills when he has dreams about Fiona. Parents are partnered and they are allowed one daughter and one son. They don't have the children themselves because there are birthing mothers for that. Each person has there own specified job that they get when they are tweleve, and Jonas is about to go to the ceremony. All the tweleves are anxious to see what they will be doing for the rest of their lives as they sit and wait for their names to be called. When it gets to Jonas he is skipped and his hope are crushed. He won't get a job. However, he is called up at the very end for a very special job. He is to be the Receiver. He goes to meet with the Giver everyday and memories are transfered to him. This means that he would be able to see color and hear music and everything else that is being kept from him. As he continues to gain memories he wants everybody to know of everything. One day he watches his father and sees him "release" a young baby by injecting it with poison. Jonas knows that his father will do this to a young baby that has been in their house for special reasons and he can't let that happen. Jonas and the Giver decide to have him run away from the community so that all the memories will be released to everyone. When Jonas leaves he takes Gabe, the young baby in his house, with him. They travel and travel, and they avoid all the planes that are out looking for them. It snows hard, and Jonas and Gabe find themselves at the top of a hill and there is a sled. They sit on the sled and go down the hill. Jonas sees a village with lights and chimney smoke. The end is controverisal as to whether he survived or not, but the sequel, Messenger, confirms their survival.

My Reaction:

I read this book a long time ago, and I never finished it. I wasn't very enthralled with it. However, reading it again I finished it within the day. It is a short book, but I just couldn't put it down. It was fascinating to see how they created a utopia and everything they did within it, I've read the other two books too and I love them!

Potential Problems:

The whole issue of "releasing" would be hard for young children to comprehend. I think 6th and up could read it and be able to get a good understanding, but it still has more messages that they might not understand.

Recommendations:

I would recommend this book to everybody above 5th grade. However, I think that if you read it when you are young then you should read it again when you are older. I know that I found it much more interesting and I got more out of it.