The Giver by Lois Lowry
In this community, there are very few differences. You are assigned a job, a spouse, and children by a group of distinguished Elders. You have designated privileges at different ages, a haircuts at eight, a bicycle (the only form of transportation besides walking) at nine, and so forth. You all turn the same age on the same day, and there is a ceremony for all the ages up to twelve. The ceremony of twelve is the special ceremony where each child is selected for a job by the Elders. Jonas’ turn has come.
Jonas is a normal kid, with a normal family. A mother, father, a male child and a female child. The only difference about him is that he has unusually pale eyes, and only a couple other people that he knows of has them. When Jonas’ is about to be assigned a job, he is skipped. He was SKIPPED! They passed over his number. At the end of the ceremony the Elder said,
“‘Jonas has not been assigned,’ she informed the crowd, and his heart sank. Then she went on. ‘Jonas has been selected.”
He was selected to be the Receiver of Memory. This is an immensely important job to the community, so Jonas is told, and he will be working with the old Receiver of Memory, who now becomes the Giver.
The Newbery Award winning book is a short book, but not a quick read. It is deep, thorough and thought-provoking, as it winds its way through the ‘adventures’ of Jonas and the Giver. Lois Lowry does a great job, and although it is great to read any book more than once, with this book you want to read it again, right away.
Lois Lowry’s website can be found here. It is a very good author’s website.
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