Lowry, L. (1993). The Giver. Boston : Houghton Mifflin.Summary
Jonas grows up in a society where life is regulated and there are no individual choices. When he is chosen to be the Receiver of Memory, he discovers what his society is missing and realizes that the lies he has been told hide some ugly truths. He decides to flee to an unknown future rather than continue to live without choice or with muted feelings.
My Impressions
This was an amazing book and I'm really surprised that I haven't read it before now. I'm always fascinated by dystopian literature and this is a classic. Jonas lives in a completely stilted society where each member is pigeon-holed into a destiny and those that don't fit into the mold are "released" a euphemism for euthanasia. This book brings up many great points about the importance of freedom of choice, historical memories and genuine feelings- both good and bad.
Professional Reviews
Gr 6-9-- In a complete departure from her other novels, Lowry has written an intriguing story set in a society that is uniformly run by a Committee of Elders. Twelve-year-old Jonas's confidence in his comfortable "normal'' existence as a member of this well-ordered community is shaken when he is assigned his life's work as the Receiver. The Giver, who passes on to Jonas the burden of being the holder for the community of all memory "back and back and back,'' teaches him the cost of living in an environment that is "without color, pain, or past.'' The tension leading up to the Ceremony, in which children are promoted not to another grade but to another stage in their life, and the drama and responsibility of the sessions with The Giver are gripping. The final flight for survival is as riveting as it is inevitable. The author makes real abstract concepts, such as the meaning of a life in which there are virtually no choices to be made and no experiences with deep feelings. This tightly plotted story and its believable characters will stay with readers for a long time. --School Library Journal, Amy Kellman, The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, 2010. (Retrieved from http://catalog.lapl.org/carlweb/)
Gr. 7^-9. Lowry's simple, powerful prose creates an anti-utopian world where the lack of hardship, war, and poverty only covers the citizens' deeper lack of freedom. A Booklist Editors' Choice and Newbery Medal Winner. --Booklist, Editors, 1994. (Retrieved from http://catalog.lapl.org/carlweb/)
In the "ideal'' world into which Jonas was born, everybody has sensibly agreed that well-matched married couples will raise exactly two offspring, one boy and one girl. These children's adolescent sexual impulses will be stifled with specially prescribed drugs; at age 12 they will receive an appropriate career assignment, sensibly chosen by the community's Elders. This is a world in which the old live in group homes and are "released''--to great celebration--at the proper time; the few infants who do not develop according to schedule are also "released,'' but with no fanfare. Lowry's development of this civilization is so deft that her readers, like the community's citizens, will be easily seduced by the chimera of this ordered, pain-free society. Until the time that Jonah begins training for his job assignment--the rigorous and prestigious position of Receiver of Memory--he, too, is a complacent model citizen. But as his near-mystical training progresses, and he is weighed down and enriched with society's collective memories of a world as stimulating as it was flawed, Jonas grows increasingly aware of the hypocrisy that rules his world. With a storyline that hints at Christian allegory and an eerie futuristic setting, this intriguing novel calls to mind John Christopher's Tripods trilogy and Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Girl. Lowry is once again in top form--raising many questions while answering few, and unwinding a tale fit for the most adventurous readers. Ages 12-14. --Publishers Weekly, April 1994. (Retrieved from http://catalog.lapl.org/carlweb/)
Suggested Use in Library
A wonderful book that can be recommended to children, especially those interested in reading books that open their eyes to new societies. This book would be a great pick for the book of the month for a book club especially one promoting Newbery award winners.
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SLIS 5420/Module 4, Book 1
Newbery Award Winners
September 13-19, 2010
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