"The Giver" by Lois Lowry
Posted: 17 Aug 2015, 09:24
"The Giver" by Lois Lowry is a young adult novel that is about living in a safe and controlled environment. This is a book about gaining and using wisdom. The main character of Jonas is a child that just turned 12 years of age and has started his assignment as the new 'Receiver' a person that must learn about emotions. These feelings that Jonas is learning about will make him feel good and yet feel bad. Jonas is starting to understand life with all its' good and bad aspects. Jonas and his 'family' live a safe and controlled environment that has all of life's choices made for them. They characters 'apply' for a spouse and then again for children if they want children. When growing up children must follow the rules. The children every year will go to a ceremony for each year of life from ones, twos, threes and so on till the Ceremony of Twelve. Each of the ceremonies the children will receive something appropriate for each new age. Very young children receive comfort objects like stuffed animals, older kids receive items appropriate for their age, for example nine year old children receive new bikes and they start to attend volunteer hours to see where their interests lie for when they reach the Ceremony of Twelve they are given their assignments. These assignments range from nurturers, birth mothers, professionals, for example teachers, doctors, lawyers and engineers to what Jonas's assignment is to become the new Receiver or the one who feels all the emotions of past and present generations. This book is about what would happen if we all made our own choices.
This is a book that will make readers of all ages think about the choices they have made over the years. The reader may think over what they have done were the right choices for them and how these choices affected others around them. A quote from the book that explains what Jonas and all of us feel is "Trust the memories and they make you feel."
We all learn in different ways and being the same makes things easier, but we as society will not grow. This is a good book for social studies teachers to use about communities and society and how differences affect what we do in our lives.
This is a book that will make readers of all ages think about the choices they have made over the years. The reader may think over what they have done were the right choices for them and how these choices affected others around them. A quote from the book that explains what Jonas and all of us feel is "Trust the memories and they make you feel."
We all learn in different ways and being the same makes things easier, but we as society will not grow. This is a good book for social studies teachers to use about communities and society and how differences affect what we do in our lives.