About Book
Title: The Giver
Author: Lois Lowry
Cover Artist: Cliff Nielson
Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopian Fiction, Utopian Fiction
Major Book Awards: 1994 Newbery Medal
Recommended Age Range: 13+
Appropriate Grade Levels: 8th grade and up
Summary
This book is written in the pov of Jonas, a boy who later on finds out that he is living in a dystopian society. Everyone within this community is seen as the same. No one experiences prejudice, discrimination, pain, hunger, color, or have strong emotions like love. They all know how to behave & work as their assigned role, either as a nurturer, engineer, etc. Their careers are chosen for them once they turn 12. Jonas was chosen last and was given a respected role as the Receiver of Memory. A person who takes on the responsibility to remember life before sameness. The purpose for him to remember these abandoned memories is to help keep the community within the bubble of sameness and that these "mistakes" are avoided. As Jonas is receiving memories from The Giver, he learns that this is what life should be like, being able to experience the good and the bad. And as time goes by, the world that Jonas once sees in black & white, suddenly has colors. This new vision of his becomes clearer as he continues to receive memories. Deciding that in order for life to go back the way it was, Jonas plans to leave. His plan to initially leave on his own soon changed when he found out that Gabriel, a baby his family has taken in will be released [killed] soon. So instead, he takes Gabriel along and they've successfully escaped, with all the memories returning to the community as well. At the end of the book, Jonas and the baby sled rides down the snow and he sees a house, signaling that he has returned to a world that values the things the dystopian society has left.
Evaluation - Would I Incorporate this book in the classroom?
This book has managed to keep me entertained right until the end. I love reading anything that involves dystopian or utopian, so I'm glad that it was able to keep my interest on these genres. There's also a little mixture of mystery within this book as well which is super cool. The plot and idea in this book are quite unique and clever. I would use this book in my classroom, if I was teaching middle school grade levels and up. Instead of reading the book, students can read while listening to an audiobook. And after some chapters, I can stop and discuss what is going on with students. They are also filling out a worksheet as they read, so they can stay on track of what is going on. And after reading the chapters for that day, as a class we can play a memory game testing what they remember so far. This is fun since it relates to Jonas in a way as the Receiver of Memory.
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