Saturday, March 31, 2007

The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Giver
by
Lois Lowry

1993
179pp

Newbery Medal

Rating: 4.5

I really, really liked this book. It is another "Big Brother" story similar to Fahrenheit 451 or 1984. Scary, scary.

Jonas is eleven years old. When he is twelve, he will receive his "assignment" or job from the Elders of his community. Everything is decided by the Elders. Who marries whom. Which occupation you will have. Which children you will raise. And even who has to be "released" from the community. When Jonas is selected for a special position that only one other person in the community has, it is considered a very high honor. What Jonas discovers about this "honor" changes his life completely.

I read this for the Banned Book Challenge. I'm not sure why it would be contested. Perhaps because there is some talk about the "stirrings" of beginning s* x u ality in Jonas. I didn't have a problem with this, but I'm really glad I read it before I gave it to my 13 and 12 year old sons to read. This book will make for a great discussion.

3 comments:

Joy said...

I agree...a great discussion book. I read it long ago, but still vividly remember parts of it.

Kristin said...

I just wanted to let you know that I tagged you for the Thinking Blogger Award. Keep up the great work, I love your blog!

Mercy's Maid said...

I loved this book too! The part that impacted me the most was the way the community took feelings away from people. There was no such thing as pain, but as a result there was also no such thing and joy/happiness, etc.

You might want to check out the companions to this book: Gathering Blue and Messenger.