The Giver

By: Lois Lowry (1993)

This book is about a boy named Jonas that lives in a town where everything seems perfect, and a little be strange. There are many rules and privileges that are granted to you when you reach certain ages. The most important age is when you become a Twelve and you are given your assignment. Jonas is assigned the mysterious role of receiver of the memories, which he soon learns opens his eyes to feelings and experiences that he and all the other citizens of the town are being deprived of. Through his teacher, the Giver, Jonas becomes aware of the diversity and feelings that used to exist in the world, which have been replaced by what is called Sameness, or everything being the same with the citizens not having any choices because of the danger that those choices can bring. With the help of the Giver, Jonas decides to leave the town so that he can share these memories with the rest of the citizens so that can experience the beauty of diversity, emotions, and choice.

I really enjoyed this book and thought that it was unlike any book that I have ever read. The way that things are named in this community and the rules that they have seemed absurd at first, but after comparing to them to the somewhat arbitrary rules that we have in our society, like being 18 to vote and 21 to drink, I began to think about how an outsider might view our rules in much the same light.  I also really enjoyed thinking about benefits and downfalls of giving individuals the power of choice. This is a major topic in this book and it is interesting to think about how taking this away from people can make for a potentially safer and more efficient society, however, this removal of choice also eliminates much of the joy in life as well. I thought that Jonas was a great character and some of his thoughts would provoke great discussion in the classroom.

I think that this is a book that I would be very excited to read in my classroom because of all of the great discussions that we could have as a class with many parts of the book. I think that I would initially like to have my students make a list of all the milestones and their accompanying privileges that we have in our society so that the students could compare them to those in the book. I think that this would help students see that all rules seem somewhat silly when you are not familiar with them and they are not ingrained in your culture. I would also like to have discussions with students about the pros and cons of free choice and the effect that this freedom has on society. I think that these discussions could also be supplemented with lessons on different forms of government around the world, and how they affect an individual's way of life.