Fiction, Fantasy, and YA - THE GIVER

Bibliography
Lowry, Lois. 1993. THE GIVER. Houghton Mifflin. New York, New York. ISBN 0395645662

Plot Summary
THE GIVER is the story of a community that wants sameness among the people. Children are all given certain privileges by the age they are. Occupations, spouses, and even children are assigned to people. Finally, after Jonas is selected to be “The Giver” or the memory for the people he begins to doubt that the decision for sameness is what is best. He also learns of babies and elderly who are being killed because they are not the same. He decides to fight the injustice by leaving the community and even taking a baby that will soon be killed with him. His leaving will cause the people to have feelings and emotions again.

Critical Analysis
This is my favorite book from this whole semester of reading. The ideas posted by Lowry through the community will sound good to readers at first but the more the community is exposed the more the reader sees the injustices. As a Christian I was amazed at some of the things Jonas said after meeting the Giver. I have always told my children at church that God loves us enough to let us choose Him. In this community they don’t give the people the opportunity to do right or wrong. When Jonas starts talking about a baby named Gabriel he says, “what if we could hold up things that were bright red, or bright yellow and he could choose? Instead of the Sameness?” The Giver responds, “He might make wrong choices.” Then Jonas responds “Oh I see what you mean it doesn’t matter for a newchild’s toy. But later it does matter, doesn’t it? We don’t dare let people make choices of their own.” The quote captivated me because we are given the right to choose and He (God) could control that and yet He chooses not to.

Review Excerpt(s)
From School Library Journal “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.”From Kirkus Reviews
“Jonas may be a Christ figure, but the contrasts here with Christian symbols are also intriguing. Wrought with admirable skill--the emptiness and menace underlying this Utopia emerge step by inexorable step: a richly provocative novel.”
From Publishers Weekly
“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.”

Connections
*Have students create their own “perfect” world using idea from THE GIVER.
*Have students write what they think should come next.
*Have students think about what job the “Elders” might choose for them and what the pros and cons of that job would be.
Lowry, Lois. GATHERING BLUE. ISBN 0385732562
Lowry, Lois. MESSENGER. ISBN 0385732538